Naruto: Curse of the Samurai
by WritingAgain
Summary: Naruto at the age of eight is taken by Musashi. Musashi is the title granted only to the strongest samurai of their generation. Naruto is trained for four years and becomes the Sole Inheritor of the Three Dances. When his master is murdered, Naruto is sent back to Konoha... wielding the powers of Dragon, Sky and Shadow. The storm is brewing... and destiny waits for no man.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Omgosh… this idea just hit me. And I already have all the battles planned out… and Naruto's skills planned out… let's start this story. I think I'm going to concentrate on this one and God of War crossover.

…..

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed looking out at a child through the window in his office.

A child say on the wings alone. He had messy blonde hair, a dirty white shirt and a tattered piece of cloth that had long crossed the line of being simple shorts. He was on the swings alone, a part of his hair on the side matted with blonde. His eyes were hidden beneath his long hair, covering them in shadow. The child didn't have any shoes on, his feet bloodied and covered with dirt.

Sarutobi had watched from his office as the children played in the playground beneath his office. He saw them running around, playing in the sandbox and simply playing as children often do. The Hokage had seen even some children that were from respectable shinobi clans. He saw a child playing with his puppy, no doubt hailing from the Inuzaka Clan. He saw the wives of Shikaku, Chouza and Inoichi respectively and their children running around. He smiled enjoying the sounds of laughter and general merriment of the next generation as they simply enjoyed themselves on this day. It was the perfect day for an outing, sunny with a hint of breeze. Even the birds seemed to be in a merry mood, flying with an extra oomph in their flaps. Sarutobi spied the playground, surprised, in a pleasant way, that even the Hyuuga had attended this little massive play date.

He smiled, pausing in his paperwork to stare out the window, content. This was exactly the kind of village he had dreamed of when he was young. No war to worry about, not wondering when the next meal cart was coming, not having to worry about money or whether your son was safe to go outside and play. It was a village of peace, the people's trust in their ninja having grown to the point where they were now a part of life, not warriors or soldiers to be feared. Ninjas weren't simply tools of wars anymore, they were a part of the village just like everyone else. Seeing the children play together had reminded him of this nice fact.

Sarutobi stiffened seeing a new child enter the playground.

Uzumaki Naruto.

He saw the civilians and the shinobi parents start to stare at the child who had just come to the playground. Naruto began to run around but stopped, soon noticing the stairs and how people began to rapidly leave. Sarutobi saw Naruto run over to the kids who had not left yet and begin to play with. He watched, a frown on his face, the worry evident upon the aged lines. The creases in his forehead deepened and he saw a child throw a punch at Naruto. The two child began to fight with other kids joining in the battle. It soon became an all out brawl, all the kids beating up the blonde. Sarutobi took his hat and prepared to go to the playground. The thing that stopped him was that the parents began to walk over to their kids. However to his shock, instead of reprimanding their kids, the parents simply took the kids by their hand, taking them out of the park, pretending as if nothing had happened.

He saw them leave one by one.

Then there was one.

Naruto got up, dusted himself off and walked over to the swings.

Sarutobi saw the glistening tears on his cheek, drip to the floor one by one.

The sandaime turned around his heart in a greater ache than ever before. He felt anger rise within him, the pity for the blonde, then anger again at himself for being powerless. No, not powerless but simply unwilling. He was unwilling to place himself out there for Naruto. He didn't feel like this but he knew that there was a subconscious, a deeper part of him that must fear being a part of the minority. Else why would he just crumple his hat to a wreck and simply watch, not helping the hero of the village? The professor looked back at his paperwork.

"_What use is peace… if we can't thank the one who has granted us this peace?" _Sarutobi looked at Naruto who was attempting to build a sandcastle by himself. _"This child has done nothing to deserve this…" _

Jinchuuriki… Human Sacrifice.

He was finding a totally different meaning to the word sacrifice.

Jinchuuriki's weren't a sacrifice because they were given to the demons. They were a sacrifice because they were sacrificed for peace, they were the very scapegoat, the very physical manifestation of the people's fears. They were sacrificed not to the demon, but to the very populace that they worked to protect. The Jinchuuriki's weren't a sacrificed… they were called to sacrifice. They were called to sacrifice any semblance of a normal life, sacrifice their families and sacrifice any precious bonds that they might have had with someone else.

Not having a bond with anyone… being alone forever…

There existed nothing else that Sarutobi feared more.

He turned away from the window sitting back down on his desk. _"There's nothing else I can do… this is the life that his parents chose for him… if I draw any more attention to this I'm only drawing attention to him…" _He grabbed the pen and looked at the paper in front of him, seeing it but the words resembling nothing but a stain upon the white sheet.

Sarutobi sighed and focused his eyes trying to read the words.

There was a knock at his door.

"Come in." Sarutobi answered, his voice loud and clear but even before he had finished saying the words, a man entered the room. The Third Hokage's eyes widened recognizing the man for who he was.

The man was tall, reaching nearly six and a half. He had wide shoulders, so much that when he entered through the doorway, it had looked a bit cramped. His size was on par with Jiraiya. Height and width weren't the only thing they had in common, they had the same atmosphere about them. The air of power, strength and confidence in their skills. This man had seen many battles of life and death.

And he had survived them all.

The man had a broad jaw and one eye that was closed. He was ruggedly handsome, promising some danger yet dependence to women who looked upon him. He had his hair tied into a ponytail, yet his hair wasn't long enough for it to reach his neck or even the back of his head. His pony tail ended a bit after the rope used to tie his hair, a little puff of spiky hair that hung down just an inch or two. The man was wearing a type of grieve that started at his wrist and ended a bit before his elbow. He had a black kimono with a sash tied around it.

On the right side of his waist hung a single sword.

"Sarutobi-dono." The man greeted.

"Miyamoto..." Sarutobi took out a long pipe, sending a puff of smoke into the air. "other wise known as Musashi."

"Please, just call me Takezo." The man shot him a silly grin, rubbing the back of his head and a faint blush on his face. "I'm embarrassed when people address me as that."

"But that is the title that you have earned is it not?" Sarutobi smiled seeing the abashed Takezo.

Takezo… the strongest Samurai…

Takezo came from a long lineage of swordsmen. Not only that, instead of inheriting the techniques of his family, Takezo was apprenticed the previous Musashi of his generation. There were some dark rumors surrounding the practice of Samurai, such as apprentices killing each other for the right to pass on to the next generation their techniques and even practices that dictated that the students kill the master in a death match to earn mastery of their swordsmanship. Then again, there was the title of Musashi. Only the greatest samurai of their generation was granted the name Miyamoto Musashi, handed down generations and generations ago.

Takezo's previous master had been called Musashi as well.

Then somewhere along the line, Takezo took the name Musashi for himself.

Whether his master passed it onto him or whether Takezo truly fought his master in a deathmatch…

Sarutobi did not know.

Nor did he want to know more about such dark arts.

All he knew was that this man wasn't like other Samurai… his powers were a force to be reckoned with and he had a feeling that Sarutobi wasn't simply dropping by to say hello.

Confirming his fears, the next words nearly stopped the old man's heart.

"Give me the child."

Sarutobi dropped his pipe onto the desk, scattering ash all over his cursed paperwork. But the man didn't even care at that point. He stared at the Samurai's expression hoping for any semblance of a joke or lack of seriousness. The Sandaime frowned, looking out the window at the blonde child who was making a sand castle and then back at the Samurai who stood in front of him.

"Would you… care to repeat that?"

"I want the child." Musashi's voice left no room for doubt. "He's not treated well here. I want to take him and make him my apprentice. I will teach him the way of my style. I wish for him to inherit my techniques and make him the next Musashi. Just as my master had taken me and I became the inheritor… I wish for him to become the sole inheritor of my techniques… the **San Mai." **(Three Dances)

Sarutobi froze at his last words.

He stood up.

Then he slammed his hands on the desk, sending papers flying around in his office.

"Get out." He whispered. "I don't want you anywhere near Naruto."

"I know that many, even other samurai, regard the dances as a cursed art…" Musashi began.

"SHUT UP!" Sarutobi lost it and pointed at the door, his eyes bloodshot and spittle beginning to form at the corners of his mouth. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE NARUTO-"

"I'm taking him whether you like it or not old man." Musashi shook his head. "Minato saved my LIFE. I won't let his son be treated like some common scum! I won't let you people treat him like some outcast!"

"I won't allow it." Sarutobi whispered again, shaking his head. "I'm calling the ANBU."

"The only one in this village who can defeat me is you." The samurai retorted. "And we both know you won't stop me."

"This is Minato's _will._" The Hokage pled. "This is Naruto's village… he belongs here."

"I'm not my master Sarutobi." Musashi's words were calm and emotionless, contrary to the Hokage who had just lost his cool seconds ago. "I'm not scared of Shinobi… don't put me on the same level as other samurai."

The Hokage remained silent for a few more minutes, then sat down trying to slow of his erratic heartbeat.

He was getting too old for this.

Hiruzen looked out the window seeing Naruto climb the swings by himself. He saw some villagers pass by the playground, seeing the blonde and gossiping among themselves. He felt another pang of pain go through his chest.

"…why him?"

"Because he's alone." The samurai didn't miss a beat. He crossed his arms, knowing that he didn't need to be particularly persuasive.

They both knew it.

Naruto, if he stayed, was going to be forever alone.

The blonde was an outcast, among his peers and even in the village. Not a single person comforted or spoke anything close to a single warm word to the boy. The Hokage couldn't show favoritism or words would be whispered and unwanted attention from other people would be brought to the boy. Soon his true identity would be brought to light and he grow up not as just a loner to his peers, but as a monster, a freak and something akin to disposable trash.

He couldn't let that happen to Naruto.

"_Naruto…" _Sarutobi sighed then turned to Musashi. "Make sure no one sees you on your way out."

…

"So you're name is… Takezo?" The eight year old blonde asked.

"Yup." The samurai answered his newest pupil a wide smile on his face.

The two were walking on a little dirt path that lead the way out of Konoha. In truth they had left the village many hours ago. To his surprise, the blonde came willingly. All the Samurai needed to do was buy him some food and tell him that the sandaime had sent him. At first the blonde had been very doubtful and mistrusting but once he mentioned the third hokage, he followed willingly enough. He didn't even ask a lot of questions when Takezo had told him that he was to come with him. Naruto packed up his stuff as fast as he could, packing things that meant nothing to Takezo but apparently meant a lot to the blonde.

"Takezo-san." Naruto began. "where are we-"

"Call me sensei."

"Um… ok… Takezo-sensei…" Naruto ventured surprised at the sharp tone in the man's voice. Then he looked at the big man and sweatdropped a bit.

Takezo was blushing, looking the other way.

"_He's really happy that I called him Sensei…"_

"_That's the first time I've been called sensei… Naruto… I'll protect you with my life my cute pupil!" _Takezo promised, crying tears of joy.

"So… where are we going sensei?" The blonde turned back to his initial question grunting with effort. They had been walking for hours and now that the excitement of leaving the village had worn off, his energy levels were beginning to drop. They had left in the afternoon and now the sun was beginning to set.

"To the land of iron." Takezo peered at Naruto from the corner of his eyes. "To begin your training… which in truth, began the moment we stepped out of Konoha."

"Oh." Eight year old Naruto kicked a pebble that was in his way. "So does that mean I don't have to go to the academy anymore?"

"You'll find some other friends. I assure you." Takezo placed a hand on the handle of his sword unconsciously, feeling the smooth handle.

"But I need to become a great shinobi… and if I don't go to the academy-"

Takezo interrupted the blonde midway. "From now on Naruto… I'm your Master. I'll be in charge of your training from now on." He gestured towards the sword that he was gripping. "Do you see what I'm holding?"

"A sword…"

"Exactly." Takezo smiled at the blonde, the goofy grin lightning a smile on Naruto's face as well. "I'm not a shinobi Naruto… which means I can't teach you shinobi arts."

"Then how am I supposed to become stronger?" The blonde continued to stare at the sword. It was inside a black sheath. The guard was shaped a lot like flower petals in Naruto's opinion. The handle was covered in white bandages which had a lot of other stains on it.

"I will teach you in the way of the samurai." Takezo glanced at the blonde then shrugged. "You are eight years old. In the future I plan to return you to Konoha… you will train with me for four years. During those four years you will master different aspects of the Samurai Arts. For your first year we will be in the Land of Iron, where you will be trained in the basics. Then for three years I will personally train you."

Naruto nodded not really understanding anything but finding something unusual. "Why are we going to the Land of Iron? Can't you train me all those stuff yourself?"

"No I can't," Takezo shook his head. "In the land of Iron, you will meet many other apprentices your age. They will be going through the same training as you, how to hold a sword, the basic stance, how to treat a sword and basic conditioning. You will also be trained in the ways of the Samurai… Bushido."

"It sounds too boring. Can't you teach me like a jutsu that'll make me-"

"We don't use jutsus." The samurai stopped and bent on one knee. He grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and looked at Naruto in the eye. Naruto stared back noting that one eye on the man's face was closed. "Naruto… from now on, you must throw away your dreams of being a ninja. Try not to mention anything about shinobis when you go to the school with the other kids. Already you will be a target for ridicule since you are my apprentice. But some samurais hold a stigma against ninjas… no one will recognize you as a shinobi there unless you tell them. Please, for your own sake, try not to talk about being a ninja."

"They don't like you?" Naruto cocked his head to the side.

Takezo hesitated wondering how much to tell the boy. "I'll tell you more about the history of my art once you have become powerful enough." He grimaced feeling embarrassed beneath the gaze of the innocent boy. The samurai felt as somehow telling the cursed history of their techniques would tarnish the boy. Even teaching the technique to such a young soul felt kind of guilty.

But this was something that needed to be done.

"Come on Naruto… let's go."

….

It had been a couple of months since they had left Konohagakure no Sato.

Naruto missed the village at times, missing the taste of ramen or how he would be allowed to visit the Hokage at times. He missed the playground and the amount of time that he had to himself before. He never knew how previous free time was until he was enrolled into the Samurai School mandatory for all Samurai Apprentices. Naruto missed the trees and the warmth of Konoha. He wanted to see the forests one more time, walking to an abandoned training post and running around screaming his heart out.

The land of iron was a desolate place, deprived of the sun and any type of warmth. It was in between the three mountains called the Three Wolves Mountain. When Naruto had first seen the place he had been amazed, never having seen snow before in his entire life. Konoha was always a place of warmth, sometimes being unbearably hot but usually it was a nice balance of warmth and cool. That was the primary reason why so many people came to the village, for the weather, produce and the protection offered by the village ninja. The land of iron was a cold place, both in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense.

In Konoha the people were warm and friendly. Here they were cold and brisque. There was a type of atmosphere about the place that screamed authority and seriousness. It was a place of rules and laws, the two primary aspect that governed the lives of everyone there. The only civilians that Naruto had met were the wives and the children of the Samurai. Most of the food was delivered there in monthly shipments since the icy winds and the harsh mountains did not allow for any vegetation to grow. Though there was more than vegetables, there weren't a lot of live stocks either. The only type of live stock that existed in this freezing place were these big cows with lots of hair and small horns. Naruto had never seen cows like them before. They tasted the same though and it had soon become Naruto's new favorite food.

But he got used to it.

It was either that… or die.

This wasn't a place where people made warm friendships and heartwarming relationships. It was a place where either you worked together or died together. There was a type of solidarity here, definitely not warm but a solidarity nonetheless. The air was always one of business, that those who did not work did not eat. Many people had the mindset of one for all and all for one.

Naruto kind of liked it.

Even if some people personally disliked Naruto, he was sure that they would rush to help him if he was in any real danger. He didn't have any proof for this but he knew he wasn't wrong.

People here were driven with the sense of responsibility and duty.

Naruto had found another home.

However he didn't make any connections that he cherished because he knew he was leaving in a year. The seasons didn't change in the land of iron but Naruto knew it was time to leave. So when Takezo came to him and told him it was time to leave to start his real training, the blonde didn't complain. He followed Takezo.

And so he trained for three years…

_..._

_It was raining._

_Rain fell from the sky, mixing with the blood of the earth. There was a man who lay on the ground, his body cut nearly in half. The cut traveled from his shoulder to his hip. There was literally a pool of blood around him, filling the grooves in the earth only to be washed away. The man stared at nothing, one eye closed and the other staring straight into space. His life had already ended long time ago but it had taken years for him to die. He knew that when he picked up the sword that this day would come but he wished it had come a bit later._

"_Y-you…" The man choked out staring at the lump of body next to him. He felt worried for the owner of the body next to him. "Will keep your promise then?" His voice sounded weak even to his own ears, sounding feeble and hoarse._

_The boy who was lying on the ground next to him tried to speak but the only sound he made was a gurgling noise. He was clutching his chest in pain, blood leaking from his mouth. With his other hand, Naruto was grabbing the ground, trying to stand but finding it impossible to find the strength in his body to do so._

"_I will keep my promise…" A voice said._

_Naruto's head snapped up towards the source of the voice, his eyes burning with blue fire._

"_T-thank you…" wheezed Musashi feeling a smile stretch over his mouth. He knew he was dying yet he found peace and satisfaction in his death. His master had often told him that not everyone found peace in death and for those who did, it was a sign that they had lived a long and good life. They had no regrets and had lived a life that they could be proud of. Musashi smiled remembering the senile old man. He then looked at his own apprentice, marveling at how fast time flew by._

"_Good-bye… Takezo." The man whispered._

_The blade swept down and beheaded Musashi._

"_!"_

_Naruto finally found the strength to scream, seeing his teacher's head roll across the ground. He reached out with both hands, forgetting the burning sensation in his chest and grabbed it, bringing it near him and holding onto it protectively. He turned his gaze towards the killer, covered in shadow and holding a single Katana at his side. _

"_I have killed your teacher… putting an end to the curse of our arts." The man sheathed his sword, his purple eyes staring into Naruto's cerulean. "I would kill you too… but I will keep my promise with your Master."_

"_I will not kill you until you are of age… Uzumaki Naruto."_

"_M-master…" Naruto moaned holding onto his master's head. That damned smile was still there. Rain matted the black hair to his forehead._

"This can't be happening…" _Naruto's thoughts were befuddled and muddy just like the ground. He couldn't believe that his master, the man who had trained him and raised him and treated him like his own son for the last four years had just… his head was not on his neck. That was not physically possible for anyone that was alive. Naruto began to crawl towards the body, his eyes desperate and mad._

"_Let him go Uzumaki Naruto… he is dead. He is with us no longer."_

_Naruto released the head, letting it roll away from him. He stared at the man in front of him, trying to burn every single detail of his face and body into his mind. The blonde put out one hand, sinking it into the ground softened by rain and pulled himself up, managing to stand on his own feet, though a bit unsteadily. He continued to look at the man, a crazed look in his eyes._

"_You fucking bastard…" Naruto lifted his head and chin, blood dripping down and mixing with the pouring rain. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"_

_The blonde lunged across the clearing, drawing a sword from the scabbard at his waist._

_There was a sound of metal on metal._

_Naruto flew backwards, his back slamming into the tree. He heard a crunch and a sharp pain in his back, his eyes bulging with agony. He slid down, his legs sprawled out in front of him. He stared at the sword in his hand but half of it was gone, the blade cleaved cleanly in two. The blonde felt another pang of pain go through his chest, feeling as if something was struggling to get out, clawing and biting, giving him nothing but pain._

_The man watched silently._

"_Why…" Naruto whispered. "Why… he didn't care about his title of Musashi… why…"_

"_Because that was his destiny Uzumaki Naruto." The man shook his head. "He knew it was coming. Those who learn our arts… are destined for death Naruto."_

"_A curse that ends with him."_

_Naruto began to shake._

_The man sighed and bent down, picking up Musashi's sword._

"_Don't you dare fucking touch that." The blonde snarled, trying to get up. He actually managed to get up on his own two feet until he felt his legs go out. He fell to his knees and supported himself with a hand._

_Yet the fire in his eyes never died._

"_That's my Master's sword… don't touch that…" Naruto began to crawl towards the man, using his knees and one arm. The other arm, which had been holding his sword hung limply at his side. "I SAID DON'T FUCKING TOUCH IT!"_

_The man sheathed the sword and threw it in front of Naruto._

"_That is Hanakage… the sword known as Flower Shadow." The man explained. "It was the sword of your master… and our master."_

_The man lifted up his own sword. The blade was a dull red, the stain of blood still existent on the tip. The man flicked the blade towards the ground, washing away the last of it. The guard was shaped like a flower, just like Musashi's sword except while Musashi's sword had rounded edges on the guard, the man's guard had pointed edges._

"_If you want to avenge your master…" The man leaned a bit out of the shadow cast by the trees. "Come and kill me… if you can. I shall be waiting, Uzumaki Naruto."_

_Then he left._

_Then Uzumaki Naruto, the child of Destiny and the Inheritor of the cursed techniques opened his mouth, releasing all his anger, frustration and sorrow in a blood curdling scream._

_That is how his story began._

…_.._

Hiruzen looked at the boy that stood in front of him.

"_Has it already been four years?" _He glanced up from the paper that he had been reading to get one more look at the boy.

Naruto's blonde hair had grown out over the years. His hair was tied into a pony tail, but it was only long enough to have a little spiky tuff at the top. The boy's whisker marks no longer looked like whiskers but claw marks. The boy didn't seem nervous or angry at all, instead he looked curious about the office where he was. The blonde kept on turning his head this way and that, a faint smile on his lips. He was wearing a thin blue jacket with white fur lining and a black tank top underneath it. He wore black boots with blue lining that ended a bit before his knees. The boots were formed of metal plates, making it shine in the light. He wore black pants made of the same cloth as shinobi clothing.

At the right side of his waist, there was a sword. The sword, despite being a katana, had a straight scabbard, indicating that the blade within was also straight. Its guard was formed of eight petal looking appendages that made it resemble a flower.

It was the same sword that Musashi had brought into his office about four years ago.

The Third Hokage looked over the paper that Naruto had brought into his office once again, giving it the once over. The paper stated that Musashi had died in battle. The Country of Iron, Mifune, said that it was last wish of Musashi's for Naruto to go back to Konohagakure and resume his ninja training. However it also stated that if Konohagakure would not accept the blonde, they wouldn't mind taking the blonde back into their midst once more.

He had no intention of doing that.

"Naruto, do you remember me?" The Sandaime took out a long pipe, taking a puff from it.

"Of course, you're the old man." The blonde tapped a finger on the end of his katana. "The Hokage."

The third hokage nodded, satisfied with the answer. He settled back in his chair, giving his full attention to the blonde. "What brings you here Naruto?"

The blonde cocked his head to the side.

"What?"

"I asked why you're here."

"Musashi wanted me to be here." Naruto frowned. "I don't understand your question."

Hiruzen leaned forward stapling his fingers, setting the pipe aside. "It's a simple question… I'm asking you what your reasons are for being here."

"That's none of your business." Naruto replied, his hand touching the handle of his sword.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.

Something had flashed in Naruto's face that he hadn't had the time to make out. Naruto had a alternate motive for being here and Hiruzen swore that he would find out what it was.

But as for now…

"The genin teams have already been formulated and I'm not going to move people around. Considering your age, I want to introduce you to the other genin. I'm assuming that you have basic combat skills?" Hiruzen waved his hand, knocking away Naruto's response. "That was a stupid question." A smile appeared on his face. "What would you like to do?"

"I need missions." Naruto answered immediately. "I need missions that'll put me in contact with the underground world, the criminals, the scumbags of society. That sort of thing."

Hiruzen stared at the twelve year old boy in front of him, his mouth wide open.

Naruto shrugged. "You're the one who asked…"

The sandaime coughed. "Sorry to break it to you Naruto… but to take on those types of missions you will need to acquire a certain level of rank… most likely jounin if you were serious about the types of missions you wanted. To do that you need to take the chuunin test then another jounin exam."

"Just let me fight one." The blonde shrugged shooting an absolute predatory grin at the aged ninja. "I might surprise you."

"It doesn't work like that." The Third Hokage sighed. "Are you interested in going back to the academy?"

Naruto shot him a look.

"Never mind… bad idea."

"Good thing we know exactly what to do."

Both occupants of the room looked at the door seeing five new people enter.

Two of them were very old with graying hairs from the results of age.

The man had glasses and a robe attached to a white scarf wrapped around his neck. He had an aura similar to Hiruzen. But whiles Hiruzen had an air of wisdom and strength tempered by age, this man looked harsh and bitter something that Naruto did not like. The man reminded him of what a harsh grandpa would be like if he had one.

The woman had her hair tied up into a bun, the skin on her face sagging with age. Her eyes were nearly closed yet the way she held herself screamed authority. This woman was the type whose existence screamed out respect. Naruto had a feeling that this wasn't due to age, that even when she had been a younger version of herself she had the same type of air.

One was a jounin. He had short brown hair and large black eyes that seemed to be smiling yet not smiling. He wore the flak jacket that all konoha shinobi wore, except that his did not have the swirly things Naruto had seen before. The man was tall and well built, though not overly so. His hiata was hugging the sides of his face, a rare style these days. Naruto leaned on the ball of his feet for a split second, spying two pouches instead of the usual one on the man's hip.

The other two were closer to Naruto's age.

One had short black hair, matted down by nothing more than gravity itself. He had extremely pale skin, something that reminded Naruto of the people from the Land of Iron, which he considered his home now, due to the constant freezing weather that was prevalent there. To Naruto's disgust the boy wore a shirt that exposed his stomach, a black jacket covering the shirt that held red straps on the side. Naruto sensed more than saw Hiruzen stiffen when he spotted the boy but he ignored it.

The other one was a rather nerdy looking girl. She also wore glasses, however unlike the old man's hers were tinted with swirls most likely equipped with some t equipped with some type of chakra. She was wearing black long sleeved top and a light purple apron, which underneath she wore black shorts. Beneath the top Naruto saw a hint of mesh net. She had a backpack and Naruto did not see any kunai holster on her.

"This team has been prepared especially for you… Uzumaki Naruto."

"Homura… what is this. Explain yourself." Hiruzen asked the old man who had addressed Naruto.

"We formed this team with a special help from a few very different organizations."

"Koharu." The Sandaime whispered.

"Sarutobi," the old woman replied. "We can't very well have a boy running around the village by himself…. He's a ninja in his own rights and he needs a team to be placed in."

"Hokage-sama," The man wearing the flak jacket looked perplexed and Naruto knew that he had not known about this. "I thought you were the one who ordered this…"

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, feeling the beginnings of a headache start in the back of his head.

The jounin that stood in front of him was Yamato, a member of the ANBU. It wasn't a coincidence that Homura and Koharu brought these three to be part of Naruto's team. Yamato, besides being a ninja whose strength was a force to be reckoned with, was also blessed with a special type of chakra, the **Mokuton **(Wood Release). No doubt they had chosen him just for that reason. The man's chakra descended from the Shodaime himself, the only man to have had a chakra that reacted specially to bijuu chakra. Yamato was a safety caution and nothing more, not really a sensei. How much of this the man knew himself, Sarutobi did not know but Yamato had a tendency to be a bit absentminded at times.

The boy with the black jacket and the red straps was a member of ROOTS, a special ANBU unit under the direct control of Danzo. He didn't even consider that the old war hawk might try to wedge himself into this matter and try to gain some semblance of control during the mess. Naruto had not come at a good time, Danzo and himself had an argument concerning the Uchiha boy not too long ago. It seemed now that Danzo had set his sights on a different type of power. Sarutobi sighed wondering why this was getting more and more complicated.

He didn't know what Shiho was doing here. She was a genin, sure, but she had been placed on the cryptanalysis squad, a team of shinobi that specialized in decoding secret messages and riddles. The girl had barely passed her genin test but her talent as a crytanalysist had been acknowledged by the current team. The fact that she was here baffled Sarutobi but judging by the excited look on her face Hiruzen had a feeling she had jumped at the chance to be a regular genin. She was at the age where she wanted to run outside and entertained dreams of grandeur of being a powerful shinobi. The Hokage felt pity for the girl for being caught up in a web of intrigues that she no doubt had no idea about.

So there were three factions here. Sarutobi, who just wanted to place Naruto in a shinobi team without causing problems for other shinobis. He was originally going to place Naruto back into the academy but the blonde didn't seem to like that idea too much. He wanted to find a team that was missing a member but Koharu and Homura had simply barged into his office springing this trap on him. They were the other faction, fear mongers that wanted to keep the Kyuubi Jinchuuiki under surveillance and control. Then there was Sai, and behind him, Danzo who no doubt had his own designs for the boy.

Yamato may have been tricked into this but he had seen enough of the Hokage's reaction to see what had went on here.

"_I won't let you down Hokage-sama." _The jounin, former anbu, nodded towards the Sandaime.

The Third Hokage smiled. It seemed that Koharu and Homura had forgotten where Yamato's true allegiance lay. Besides, if Danzo was going to place a ROOT member near Naruto, it was only right that Sarutobi place someone who could keep an eye on Danzo's henchman. He would have preferred someone like Kakashi or Asuma but it was too late now.

He had been dealt his cards.

But now that he thought it over, it wasn't too bad.

"Fine." Sarutobi muttered.

Little did he know that the whole world shifted just a little.

….

They called themselves Team 13. Soon after the five people had entered and he had given his permission, Sarutobi had dismissed them. Yamato led the three newly instated genin out of the Hokage Tower, taking them to a barbeque restaurant quite popular in town. Here, the word led was metaphorical. He actually walked behind the three, trying to gauge their personalities and their quarks from the way they walked, possibly even what they were thinking.

Naruto walked with confident yet rigid steps. The blonde was absolutely confident of his own strength, something rare in a genin. He also spied sword that the blonde carried. Yamato had heard about the blonde's disappearance for the last four years from other ANBU members who often talked about the jinchuuriki when the story came up. He remembered Kakashi being livid that the boy had been let out of the village with a stranger. Kakashi seemed to be protective of the boy and it was understandable. Kakashi had strong feelings for the previous Hokage and as a result believed that the boy's upbringing was his responsibility.

Shiho seemed to be almost skipping. When he had gone to pick her up from the Cryptanalysis Squad, she had literally leaped for joy. The girl had been cursed with a brain that was fit for the Cryptanalysis team and at the same time, a heart for adventure. Her parents were apparently very protective of her and loathe to release her. However a teenage girl could be very convincing in getting what they wanted. The girl was getting to be a normal genin, not a special genin that was going to be locked up in a library every single day. She wanted to be out there and do things, not decode messages on dried up pieces of paper.

Sai walked with a slink that belonged to a ROOT member for sure. Yamato was mistrusting of the boy something about Sai set him apart from the other member of ROOT that Yamato had worked with or seen. The other ROOT members seemed to have no emotions at all, absolutely none. However Sai only seemed to be pretending to have no emotions, fooling everyone into thinking that he had no heart, including himself.

Yamato wondered what would happen if he cracked that shell.

They set around the table with the meat grilling in front of them. Naruto said nothing, staring straight ahead at the meat and nothing else. Sai was smiling, his eyes seeming to be almost closed. Shiho seemed nervous now, her hands clenched on the cloth over her knees.

"So how about a round of introductions?" Yamato smiled at his three students, flipping the meat over with his chopsticks. "I know all your names and who you guys are but I'm not sure you guys know each other."

The sound of silence was broken only by the sound of grilling meat.

"I guess I can go first." Yamato let go of his chopsticks, staring into the eyes of each one of his genin. "I'm Yamato. From now on I'll be your sensei. I'm looking forward to working with each and every one of you." He picked up a piece of meat and placed it on Naruto's plate.

"Uzumaki Naruto," The blonde picked up the piece of meat and inspected it before popping it into his mouth. "I'm kind of new around these parts… so I guess I'll be relying on you guys a lot. Please take care of me."

"I heard that you're from the Land of Iron." Shiho squeaked with unhidden enthusiasm, then covered her mouth with her hands, her face starting to brush scarlet.

"No need to be embarrassed." Yamato said, smiling kindly. "We're all teammates now."

Shiho looked at Yamato and seeing his smile, nodded. She put her hands on the table and asked Naruto, "W-what is it like there?"

Naruto leaned back carefully formulating an answer. Then he smirked. "Cold… it's almost always snowing. The people there are as cold as the weather… and stubborn. I guess I consider it my home."

"I heard that samurais are savages." Shiho whispered.

Naruto got a tick mark on his forehead but he hid it with a smile. "We tend to eat the old people when they become useless. It's called recycling. You guys don't do that here?"

Shiho's jaws opened in horror until she saw Yamato crack a smile. Realizing that Naruto was joking she sighed seeming to sink in her seat. Naruto raised an eyebrow, surprised that his joke had been less than well received.

"I'm Shiho." The girl introduced herself as Yamato placed a slab of meat on her plate. Instead of eating it, she pushed it around the plate, playing with it. "I was supposed to be a part of the cryptanalysis squad but I really wanted to be a regular genin and explore the world a bit before… you know, I settle down." Then she looked up again at her team, a goofy smile on her face. "I'm looking forward to working with you guys!"

The three of them tuned their stares to Sai prompting the boy to begin.

"I'm Sai." The boy concluded. "I haven't really been around a lot of people before…" he smiled. "I hope you guys will teach me lots of things."

"_His smile stopped a mile before it reached his eyes." _Thought Naruto.

"By the way Naruto, you don't have a headband yet?" Yamato asked while chewing.

"I have it right here." Replied the blonde, producing it from under the table. He tied it around his neck instead of tying it around his head like the others. Shiho gave a curious glance at this.

"I like to be different." He explained.

"A-are you really a samurai?" Shiho's gaze was clearly on the sword.

Naruto smiled. "No I just like to carry a sword for fun."

Shiho cocked her head to the other side not understanding that it was a joke, wandering why anyone would carry a sword for just fun. Sai still had the smile plastered on his face and Yamato had ignored the jibe altogether.

Naruto sighed. This team had a long way to go.

AN: Did you think I would reveal Naruto's powers and abilities already? NAH! I DON'T DO THAT. But if you review I might… but here, I will give a brief description of Naruto's swordsmanship. I know I kind of rushed this chapter, but the 'Curse' of Naruto's art is crucial to this story and not yet ready to be explained. I plan long term for this story.

Naruto's Sword Art is different from the swordsmanship of other Samurai. However the stigma of being considered curse comes from its history, not its difference. Naruto's art is called the Three Dances. Sky, Dragon and Shadow… aren't you curious as to what they are? REVIEW!


	2. Scroll

AN: Here we GO!

…..

"I'm sending you guys on a C-rank mission… think you guys are up for it?"

Shiho nearly leapt for joy. She and her team stood in front of the Third Hokage's desk here for their first mission. Shiho had steeled herself as she crawled out of bed that morning that no matter what type of D-rank mission they got, she would not complain. She would do the D-rank missions, as many as they took, to get out of the village and live that life that she craved for. A life filled with adventure and action, quite different from spending hours sitting on her butt looking over old manuscripts and reference books. But she had never expected a C-rank mission from the Hokage on their first day.

Sarutobi had thought long and hard about this. The team was comprised of three highly skilled individuals. Yamato was a former member of the ANBU unit, his duty suspended only because of this special mission to watch over the three genin. Sai, a member of ROOT and he was no doubt just as talented if not downright a genius. Danzo wasn't someone who tolerated incompetence and he wouldn't give a boy who was Sai's age a mission without being sure of his skill as a shinobi. Naruto had trained under a Samurai for the last four years and he was no doubt more than capable of handling himself. He had almost felt bad seeing Shiho on this team but he knew Yamato had a weak heart for kids and would train her thoroughly even if that wasn't his actual mission.\

He didn't want to waste their time by giving them D-rank missions. Besides Shiho, they were more than capable of handling themselves in a fight. Besides he wanted Yamato to report back to him about Naruto's capabilities.

"Here's a scroll." A man known as Iruka handed them a scroll, describing the missions that they had to accomplish. "You are to deliver this scroll to a temple on the border of fire country and earth country. There you will hand it to the head monk who will give it to a Iwagakure representative. You shouldn't make any contact with their representatives if all goes all."

"I was actually going to give this mission to Team 7," The Hokage explained. "But they've taken a different mission. So I'm giving this one to you guys."

Naruto wasn't really listening, trying to remember the man. He had been in the academy since he was a little boy and he remembered being taught a little from the chounin. But he wasn't too sure if this man was the same man who was his teacher from the years back.

"But even if you do make contact, don't be too alarmed." Iruka continued. He found the blonde's stare a bit… disconcerting but he ignored it. "They'll be a genin team as well or a team of chuunins at best. There shouldn't be any conflict on this trip as our relationship with them have been good as of late." He smiled at them. "Good luck Team 13."

The four walked out of the Hokage Tower like the day before when they had just met each other.

"I'll meet you guys at the South Gate in an hour." Yamato put the scroll deep inside his flak jackets inner pocket near his heart. "I'll see you then. Focus on essentials such as a sleeping bag, medical supply and a water bottle. You won't need much else since we'll make stops along the way. I'll see you guys soon." The jounin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I'll see you guys soon." Naruto muttered, waving to his teammates. Then just as he was about to leave someone called out to them.

"Hey losers, are you guys the new team that we've been hearing so much about?"

Naruto and Sai turned towards the source of the voice. Shiho had already been facing that direction and snapped her head towards the ground, staring right at the space in between her shoes.

The boy walking towards them had an arrogant air to his walk. He was wearing a beige colored jacket with fur around the hood. He had black hair and eyes that belonged more on a wolf than a person. There was a tiny puppy that was walking near his feet that seemed to have the same smirk as his master. The boy had a triangular mark on either cheek. He was followed by two genin, most likely his teammates. There was a girl with clear opaque eyes, wearing a beige jacket. She had dark hair that ended a bit before her shoulders. She, like Naruto, had her headband tied around her neck. The other boy's features were hard to see due to the high collar of his jacket and the sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He had bushy dark brown hair, the hiate on his forehead keeping it in check.

Naruto vaguely remembered the boy and the other two. He remembered a boy who always came to the academy with a white puppy. It looked a bit bigger than he remembered but it had been four years after all.

"Hey Shiho…" The boy had a cocky smile. "I thought you were going to sit at the cryptanalysis lab and stay there like the good little nerd you are."

"H-hi Kiba-kun…" Shiho inched away from the view of the boy. Her stare of the floor never left.

Naruto frowned.

"Heh… can't believe you have a team now… not that they look that strong anyways." He laughed, loud and harsh peering at each of them. "I mean, no one worth a damn would want to team up with a talentless shinobi like you anyways… are you guys off to pick some potatoes or something?"

Naruto's eyes turned flat and he looked at Sai who was smiling, ignoring the jibes. Shiho was too shy or scared to make any reply.

"_I'm going to school this boy."_

The boy with the dog had his hands in his pockets and he came up right in front of Naruto, practically shoving his face to Naruto's. He bent down a little, looking up at Naruto form the corner of his eyes. "So you're that kid who went to the Land of Iron… to become a samurai no less."

"So is it true what they say?" The boy growled, a glint of humor in his eye. "That you guys are savages?"

"Kiba-kun…" The dark haired girl whispered.

Ignoring him, Naruto turned his face the other way, never taking his eyes off of the boy and fake whispered to his teammates. "Hey… this guy's breath smells like dog… is he trained? If I tell him to go away will he go away? What about sit?"

Kiba's eyes widened in shock then narrowed, beginning to growl at the blonde. The sound came from deep within his throat actually shaking the ends of the boy's hair.

Naruto stared at this, pleasantly surprised. "Sit?"

The boy's eyes widened in shock once more.

"How about roll over? Play dead? I bet a coward like you is really good at playing dead while letting your teammates do all the work."

Kiba threw a punch.

Then doubled over in pain.

Naruto had grabbed his sword by the scabbard right below the sheath and slammed the end of its handle into the genin's stomach.

The genin backed up clutching his stomach, wheezing for breath. "Y-you bastard…"

"You know guys," He explained to his teammates. "You gotta show dogs who's more dominant or they start trying to take over the house you know. Got to train them right these days." While he had been speaking he had taken out his sword from the sash around his waist, holding it by the scabbard.

Kiba yelled in anger and ran towards Naruto one fist cocked behind his head.

Naruto sidestepped the punch neatly, sticking his foot out and tripping the boy. Kiba fell on the ground, managing to keep himself from smashing his nose on the floor by putting his hands out. He looked back, his eyes screaming bloody murder until Naruto struck right in between his eyes with the sword. Kiba fell back, screaming in pain and clutching the head. Naruto had the same smile on his face, spinning the sword with both arms, using it like a staff.

"Is your dog going to join the fight? Because if he doesn't I'm pretty sure I'm going to kick your ass."

"You bastard!" Kiba stood up, swaying to each side a little. His eyes were tearing up with pain and there was a big red mark in between his eyes where the bridge of his nose began. "I'll kill you!"

The boy launched himself towards Naruto taking out a kunai out of his holster and holding it in front of his body in a reverse grip. He swung it in front of him trying to slash Naruto across the chest. Instead of blocking the slash as Kiba had wanted him to Naruto jerked his body backwards narrowly dodging the strike. Before Kiba could react, Naruto's hand whipped forward like a snake with a thrust, the sword stabbing into Kiba's Adams Apple.

Kiba made a choking sound, trying to grasp his throat with his hand however Naruto pressed forward. The Inuzaka began to back paddle trying to gain distance from the blonde. However the blonde walked faster than Kiba could walk backwards, continuing to press down on the boy's throat. Kiba fell backwards and grabbed the end of the sword trying to move it but Naruto leaned forward, placing his hole weight on it so that the other boy couldn't even budge the weapon.

Naruto leaned down, whispering into the choking boy's ear.

"I don't even need to unsheathe my sword in front of you scum… if you diss me or my teammates ever again… I'll show you what I can do without the scabbard." The blonde withdrew, taking the point of his sword away from Kiba's throat. Kiba began to roll around to the side, holding his throat and choking. Akamaru padded over, whining and licking his owner's blue face.

"_N-Naruto…" _Shiho thought, her hands gathered together. _"That was… so touching!" _

Sai watched this and for once his smile was gone. _"I couldn't see his real skills… but now I know he's not a normal genin at least. The way he wielded the sword… it was clearly above genin level yet to him it looked like he wasn't serious. I wonder how strong he actually is."_

Hinata made a movement to go over and help. Shino stopped her with an arm.

"He deserved that Hinata… he'll learn from this. Never engage an enemy until you are aware of their strength." The Hyuuga heiress fidgeted for a moment in indecision before following her teammate's advice.

"Come on guys," Naruto left the Inuzaka behind. "We've got to pack."

….

Naruto arrived at the east gate, seeing the rest of his team waiting for him. But the scene that greeted him was less than satisfactory to him.

Yamato sat on a rock, his arms crossed in front of him. His bag pack was next to him left on the ground and apparently forgotten. Yamato had a stern expression on his face and as the cheerful Naruto skipped out of the gate he froze, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. Both Sai and Shiho was in front of Yamato kneeling in front of him. Shiho looked like she was about to cry, her hands trembling and clutching the cloth on her knees. Sai was… smiling as usual.

Yamato didn't need to say a word. He just looked at Naruto and at the ground next to Shiho.

Naruto walked over to Shiho and stood next to her, the sweat drop on his head bigger than his head itself.

"Kneel."

Naruto obeyed, feeling like something bad was going to happen if he didn't.

"We've been a team for one day," Yamato closed his eyes and began. "And already you guys are causing trouble… Naruto… your teammates haven't ratted you out but the Inuzaka boy clearly pointed towards you as the main… attacker."

"Naruto didn't do anything!" Shiho spoke up. "Kiba-kun started it first."

Yamato silenced her with a look.

"Anything to say for yourself Naruto?"

The blonde sighed. "I mean… I could say I'm sorry… but I hate to lie… but I'll say it to the dog boy if it'll make him feel better."

Yamato groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Naruto… I'm starting to think that the only thing you learned under the Samurais was to mouth off."

"Maybe I did," He shrugged. "Maybe I didn't."

Yamato's face was suddenly only inches away from Naruto's. Something had happened to Yamato's face. There were some shadows on his face that weren't there before. His eyes were wide and emotionless. The three genin, each of them shocked, surprised and scared more than they had ever been before.

"I'm not above ruling through terror… and if I have to, I WILL rule this team through terror." Though his face was only aimed at Naruto, both Shiho and Sai felt scared as well. Sai's smile had actually melted off of his face.

"O…OK." Naruto agreed, his eyes wide. "I-I'm sorry…"

Yamato returned to his normal face, flashing a grin at the genin. "Ok as long as that's understood." He picked up his back pack, putting it on and holding the two straps with both hands. "Shall we start walking? We have a long journey ahead of us."

The three genin traded looks and gulped. Mostly Shiho and Sai stared at Naruto, clearly telling him through telepathy that it was his fault that they had gone through the ordeal.

Team 13 walked through a well worn dirt path. Though it was nothing new to Naruto who had traveled into Konoha only a day or so ago, to Shiho it was a scene that she had been envisioning her whole life. The thick forestry fascinated the girl who stared at everything with absolute wonder and scrutiny. Though her eyes were hidden behind the glasses with swirls tinted on them, through the movement of her head Naruto could tell that the girl was trying to look at everything without missing a single detail.

"Wow…" Shiho muttered. "This is so cool… it's like we're characters in some fantasy novel or adventure book! I'm so excited!"

"Is this your first time out of the village?" asked Sai, flashing her a smile.

"Yeah." Shiho, once they got to know her, had been a nice enough girl though she was a bit strange. Naruto assumed that she had been bullied in the academy, whether it was for her personality or lack of talent in ninjutsu he didn't know. But it was clear from her reaction towards Kiba, who was probably one of them, that she had not enjoyed her academy years. So Naruto tried to be extra nice to her.

"I always wanted to leave the village but…" Shiho sighed. "My parents' jobs don't really let them leave the village too much. My dad used to be part of the cryptanalysis squad with my mom but now they just run the Konoha library. Not much travel in my family. But that's why I wanted to be a shinobi so bad! That's why when Yamato sensei asked me if I was interested in being a normal genin and go on missions like everyone else I was super excited."

Naruto made a sympathetic noise. "So… that means you're not really a battle oriented ninja huh?" Though the comment had been made in a casual manner Naruto had meant every word. He was truly curious about the kunoichi's capabilities as a shinobi.

Yamato began to pay attention to the conversation sensing it becoming interesting. Sai did the same.

"Yeah…" Shiho hung her head. "I'm not really… good at ninjutsu… or taijutsu… and even my chakra control is terrible… I barely passed the genin test. The reason why I went to the cryptanalysis squad was partly because my parents thought I wouldn't be able to survive out here…"

Sai stopped reading the book in front of his face, giving Naruto a chance to read the title. It read 'How to make Friends,' seeing the title Naruto sweat dropped.

"Everyone has something they're good at and stuff they're bad at. I'm sure you've yet to find something that you're good at." Sai smiled as he said this.

"_This team's completely dysfunctional…" _Naruto thought. Even without looking he knew that Sai was doing what the book had told him to do.

"Yeah… but I already know what I'm good at." Shiho seemed even more depressed than before. "I'm good at analysis of riddles and words… that's all I'm good at. A useless skill in battle."

"Well Glasses," Sai began to read the book once more. "That maybe you shouldn't be here." Then he hid his face behind the book and began to read once more.

"D-did he just call you glasses?" Naruto asked Shiho.

Shiho sighed. "Yeah… he named Kiba mutt, Shino faceless and Hinata dark creepy weirdo. I think he does that to everyone. He's been referring to you as blondie with the mouth whenever you're out of earshot."

"The book says that nicknames could help bring one closer to another person and make rapid progress in their friendships. Nicknames are reserved for the closest of friends." Sai looked at each of them, peering from the top of his book. "Since we are a team I only thought it natural that I give you guys nicknames."

"Uh… yeah," Naruto deadpanned. "You do that."

The team continued to walk making small talk and general bickering until the sun set. They had walked a pretty long distance away from Konoha. The trees became more sparse and thinner as they neared Earth Country. The path became less dirt and more rock until the trees were replaced with rocks, the greenery becoming less and less frequent as they continued to walk. The road became more of a uphill and the genin began to tire, the day's fatigue wearing on them, the uphill track making it even more tiring. They made the hard uphill track too tired to make any type of noise along the way.

"S-sensei…" Shiho was the first to break the silence. "Can we rest please?"

"Sorry Shiho." Yamato found that he was sweating as well. They had been walking the whole day with the heavy backpacks and if he found it to be a bit harder than expected, he could only imagine how hard the genin had it. "But this place is too open. We're very close to Earth Country now and around the borders roam a lot of missing nins."

The blonde turned his head to the side. "What are missing nin?"

"You didn't learn about that during your samurai training?" Yamato had thought Naruto had been trained thoroughly in everything. But he had forgotten that samurai were taught in a different manner than shinobi. Since Samurai rarely had contact with other ninja they wouldn't have to have much information about them.

"I learned about being a samurai." Naruto deadpanned. "They didn't exactly cover ninja terms during training."

"Missing ninja are shinobi that have betrayed heir villages. As a result a lot of them end up defecting for other villages, selling their village secrets or working for underground associations. The villages usually declare a bounty for these ninja." Yamato looked at Naruto, making sure his meanings were clear. "Missings nins are the most dangerous things out there since they work for no one and have no clear allegiance. You can never know what it is they want or be sure of where their loyalties lie."

Naruto's eyes turned flat.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Shiho asked the blonde, seeing his expression.

…_._

"_Get back Naruto." Takezo muttered to the blonde, his arm holding him back._

_The blonde fell back on his butt, and was already in the process of falling when the attack had began. Naruto stared, eyes wide at what had just happened to him and his master. He was also shaking from the sheer aura of the man that stood before them. The man's killing intent… no, killing intent was when the person wanted to kill you. This man just wanted to battle and nothing else, he was here to test his skills against his master and defeat him… but if that meant he killed Takezo, then so be it._

_Naruto shook from the battle spirit of the man that filled the small wooden clearing._

_His master and he had been on the road to a small village on the outskirts of the village in the Land of Iron when the man appeared in front of them. Naruto didn't even get a good look at the man as he simply drew his sword and slashed towards them. Takezo had blocked the strike and saved Naruto in the process._

_The only thing Naruto saw…_

_Were the man's lavender colored eyes with rings going around them._

"_Musashi…. No, I mean Takezo." The man muttered, his sword drawn. "I will defeat you here and end this cursed tradition."_

_Takezo drew his sword the Hanakage, a guard made of eight rounded shapes resembling flower petals. The blade, unlike other katana though it was shaped like one, was straight including the scabbard._

"_It seems that the day has finally come…" Takezo placed himself in front of Naruto, his legs spread to either side. "I was hoping my disciple would be the one to defeat you…"_

"_That whelp? He's but a child." The man's eyes widened and his voice gained a new edge. Before it had been filled with a different type of tone, low and threatening. But now he sounded surprised. _

_Takezo nodded. "But I can't leave the curse of our generation with our disciple… I'll end this with us... my fellow disciple-"_

…_.._

Naruto hissed in pain clutching the side of his temple. "It's nothing… just remembering… a rather unpleasant memory." He glanced at Yamato. "So they're like vagrants in the samurai world? Swordsmen who move without honor, without loyalty to anything and… just cuts down those who they wish."

"In a sense, yes." Yamato agreed. While they had been talking the uphill road had smoothed into a flat one, though it was still littered with stones and the occasional large boulder. There was an open space in between the rocks, large enough to situate the four of them. Yamato glanced and this and at his students. "Since we're tired why don't we rest here for today."

"Finally." Shiho whispered, her body drenched with sweat. She fell forward, clutching her bag. "Just… let me rest for a bit on this nice patch of ground…"

Naruto leaned on a rock grimacing at the prospect of sleeping on the hard floor littered with stones. _"It's going to take awhile to get rid of all the rocks." _The blonde sighed.

Yamato smiled at his students and knelt down, forming hand seals while his students looked on in interest.

"**Mokuton: Shichuuka no Jutsu." **(Wood release: Four Pillar House Technique) The jounin whispered placing both of his hands on the ground, palms open.

Naruto stared, his jaws dropping as wooden pillars began to rise out of the ground, accompanied by low rumbling resembling a small earthquake. The pillars, though made of wood, moved as if they were rubber twirling and winding around each other like snakes. Sai put a fist to block his face from the debris that were flying towards them. However he didn't have to do it for long. The wooden pillars had finished moving and in their place was a two story house. In front of the house was a small plate above the doorway with the Konoha's insignia on it.

"Welcome to your lodge for the night." Yamato smiled seeing the surprised looks on his student's faces. He turned towards Shiho. "There's a hot tub in the back so you guys can wash yourselves there."

"I thought there were rogue ninja running around this country side." Naruto's eyes were glued to the house but Yamato saw him choosing his words carefully. "Isn't this like an open invitation… like telling them that we are right here."

"No I've made sure to make precautions." Yamato said with an air of confidence. Shiho had already disappeared into the house as soon as he had mentioned the words 'hot tub.' "Let's go and get ourselves situated too. But don't worry, we'll be taking watches throughout the night." Team 13, minus Shiho who had already gone in, entered the house feeling a new sense of respect for their sensei.

They missed the a single figure who stood in the rocks observing them unseen. He was covered in shadow due to the size of the rocks, and because he stood in the shadow of one. The moon was also conveniently covered by the clouds. But as the team entered the lodging the moon came out from the cover of the clouds, its light piercing the prevalent darkness and revealing the figure who had been watching them.

He was of medium build, or so it looked because of his loose clothing. He had a shark-like top complete with a hood which resembled a shark's jaws. On his back there was a dorsal fin, completing the shark like look. There were red marking on the side of the hood similar to the red markings on either side of his face. He was wearing dark pants, his hands shoved into the pockets.

He had a smirk on his face while looking at the house.

"_So that's the genin that Orochimaru wants me to test…" _He took out a hand from his pocket and gripped the house in his hand in his eye, the distance making it seem as if he was crushing it. _"He did tell me to try my best… don't blame me if I end up killing him." _

He closed his fist, and in his eyes, the house had been broken into splinters.

…

The three genins slept in their sleeping bags, comforted by the warmth and the knowledge that their sensei was watching over them. In actuality, Shiho was the only one who slept in her bedroll. Sai was on the rooftop, drawing some pictures on his pad. Naruto sat in the corner, dozing lightly, his arms crossed in front of him, his hands in the opposite arm's sleeves. Lying against his chest was his sword.

Sai looked into the sky, drawing a picture of the moon outlined against the clouds. Slightly below the sky lay the landscape, each brushstroke capturing a rock of a hidden trail that he saw. He was so absorbed in the drawing that he didn't even notice that Yamato had snuck up right behind him and was peering from behind his shoulder. Sai continued to draw, even working up a bit of sweat from the concentration. Yamato stared for awhile longer, staying behind Sai.

"I read from the book that it's rude to stare." Sai muttered continuing to work on the drawing. He had noticed the jounin minutes ago. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." Yamato cleared his throat as Sai began to pack up his stuff. "There's some stuff we need to talk about."

Sai remained silent, continuing to put stuff back into his bag.

Taking this as a sign to continue, Yamato began to explain.

"I know you're here on Danzo's orders Sai," Said Yamato. "That you were placed here to observe Naruto."

Sai finished packing up his stuff. He quickly stuffed the scroll into a holster and his brushes into a case, putting it into his bags. He turned towards Yamato his smile wiped off of his face. From the time that Yamato had seen him, it was the most serious that he had ever been.

He noticed that Sai had a hand behind him, trying to keep it out of sight of Yamato.

Yamato sighed. "Sai, frankly speaking there's a big difference between us in terms of strength. But I also know that you were in the ROOT training division and is one of the best that Danzo had to offer or you wouldn't be here." Yamato looked at the moon. "I just want you to know Sai… that it doesn't have to be on Danzo's orders that you are here." He smiled at the genin, shocking him. "Here, you have a chance to make bonds, friends and family… and become stronger." He placed a hand on the genin's shoulder.

"Yamato-san." Sai turned around, brushing the hand off and plastered a smile on his face. Yamato grimaced. "In ROOT, we are taught things. One of the most important lessons of ROOT is what is unneeded. Emotions, family, bonds and a sense of self… there exists none of those things. What exists is not ourselves, but the mission itself and on a greater scale the protection and safety of the village. That is the purpose of us ROOT members."

"We may not shine in the sun as the bright leaves of Konoha, forming bonds and helping one another sustain the tree," Sai continued. "But we are the roots in the darkness, isolated and dirty. We are the underbelly of Konoha. Though some might consider us to be evil or tools… isn't that what a shinobi is? Leaves fall during the winter time, Yamato-san, but the root remains. The root is what keep the tree balanced, whether summer or winter, the root is what takes the nutrients from the ground and provides the energy for the tree and for the leaves."

Yamato watched as the boy spoke.

He rattled off as if these were facts that he had repeated to himself so many times that it was now simply a part of him. Sai had thought and said these things to himself so many times that he didn't care if it was true or not, it was his reality and nothing more. But Sai's words had a ring of truth to them, it was true that Konoha needed the ROOTs, despite how they were despised and looked down upon, they were an important part of Konoha. They never did anything to hurt the village, they simply looked at things in a more cut and dry way, black and white. It was either a danger to the village or not. It was a dangerous way of thinking yet Hiruzen Sarutobi had allowed their existence because they too were Konoha Shinobi that worked to protect the Will of Fire.

"Sai…" Yamato whispered. "I don't doubt that ROOT is necessary. However there is no need for you to isolate yourself and mask your emotions like this."

"A shinobi must had no emotions." Sai whispered. "The shinobi laws must be kept… or you are useless, no worse than useless."

Yamato felt a smile tug on the corner of his lips.

Yamato stretched back up to his full height, stretching his back and looking at Sai in the eye.

"You're right," He said. "Those who break the rules are trash… but a great man once told me… those who don't protect their comrades… are worse than trash." Leaving those words for Sai to mull over Yamato left.

Sai looked at the palm of his hand, his head cocked to the side.

"Friends… and family…" He mused. "Family…"

Naruto stood at the entrance of the house underneath the nameplate, his sword cradled in the crook of his arms which were crossed in front of him. He had heard the whole conversation, though it was unknown to the two shinobi. He looked up at the moon.

"Rules… and emotions huh," the blonde mused. "Is that what a Shinobi is?"

….

The four konoha ninja had resumed walking. Shiho had bed hair and slouched over, still feeling the aftereffects of being deep in sleep. Naruto showed no difference while Sai just looked to be deep in thought, the fake smile from the day before having been wiped off of his face. Yamato stood in the front, walking as though nothing had happened. He paused once in awhile to point something out to his students, explaining things about Iwagakure no Sato and the Third Shinobi War.

"We're very near the battle field where the Fourth Hokage earned the nickname, The Yellow Flash of Konoha. It was the first place where he displayed the technique that he is famous for, **Hiraishin no Jutsu.**" (Thunder God Technique) Yamato explained, pointing off to the distance. "It was the first time his jutsu was displayed. Many people were doubtful that such a technique was possible for it defied logic."

"Do you know who the Fourth Hokage is?" Shiho whispered to Naruto who seemed to be lost in thought. The blonde nodded.

"Vaguely. In our history lessons we go over the Third Shinobi War because it was one where even the Samurai were involved." He narrowed his eyes. "It was a war where Konoha made a lot of underhanded deals that ended up involving a lot of different villages. In the end it was Konoha that came out on top and became the superpower that it is today."

Shiho listened to Naruto's explanation fascinated. It always amazed her to hear the other side's opinion, the thoughts of the underdog. She had read enough history books to know that they were all written in the opinion of Konoha ninja with the facts twisted a little bit. It didn't make her disappointed in Konoha one bit, after all, all ninja villages did this to a certain extent. It's just that Konoha Shinobi were a bit more hypocritical of this than other villages.

"What other things… did Konoha do?" Shiho asked.

Sai stopped musing and turned his attention to the two, even Yamato pausing in interest.

"A bunch of things." Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "Konoha was a frequently in the midst of a lot of chaos. The Fourth Hokage, as well as the three sannin of Konohagakure. These four were possibly the four strongest shinobi of that time, not to mention Konoha had the two most fiersome clans in terms of doujutsu, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga. They divided their forces with devastating results, emerging victorious in almost every battle."

"Kirigakure no Sato, possible the only village that could match Konoha simply because of the sheer amount of shinobi that they had, began to descend into further chaos which eventually erupted into the civil war afterwards. They blame this on the Mizukage, who was told to have a special type of chakra." Naruto sighed. "We were heavily involved in battle with Kirigakure no Sato and Amegakure no Sato. We didn't make much contact with Konoha or the other three villages."

Shiho nodded. Yamato was impressed with the extent of Naruto's knowledge, he had a feeling that though Naruto was missing the necessary details to really explain what happened, he had a general understanding of the war. For someone who had no lived through it, it was an impressive display of knowledge. He looked at Sai, gauging the genin's reaction but if Sai was surprised he did not show it. When Naruto had mentioned underhanded deals, although it was unknown to him, he was talking about the ROOT division of Konoha. The ROOT division had been in charge of making deals with other villages, though allowed by the Hokage, behind the village's back. This allowed the village to be free of any responsibility that the other villages might try to pin on Konoha. It was an underhanded method but a necessary one in order to protect the village.

"Well in the war Konoha got a very advantageous position," Yamato mused almost to himself. "Which is why we have a flow of clients. Konoha has always been a very powerful village but after the war more so. You could say that it was only because the war ended that we could have missions like this without a sense of danger so close to another villages borders."

"I wouldn't count on that."

A man appeared on top of the rocks in front of them. He was wearing strange clothing that resembled a sharks. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and was looking down at them, the sun at his back.

Yamato instantly gazed at their surroundings. They were surrounded by huge rocks and he saw enemy ninja appearing, fast. He cursed himself for not noticing them earlier but the rocks absorbed vibrations from the ground. Also these shinobi had appeared without a sound. He didn't have a sense of smell like other ninja but he should still have been able to sense their presence before being ambushed in such a disadvantageous position like this.

Other ninja began to appear from behind rocks and on top of them. Yamato counted around ten. Among them two of them showed extraordinary chakra signatures.

There was a boy about Naruto's age that had three tufts of orange hair. He wore a sleeveless tunic with a weird ying-yang symbol engraved on it. The boy was fairly tall and wide for his age, and his eyes showed an air of arrogance that was rare in someone so young. That meant that this boy was not only fairly confident in his own strength, he'd proved it many times before. He had a purple rope around his waist tied into a ribbon at the back.

The other was a boy with dark skin and black eyes. One thing that struck Yamato as odd was that the boy had two extra pair of arms, adding up to six arms on his whole body. He wore the same clothes as the other one, except that he had a hiate on his forehead with a melody note on it. He had a cocky smirk on his face just like the other one.

"_This is bad." _Yamato looked around them. Along with the three ninja who were obviously the stronger ones, there were three other shinobi around them all of them bearing the marks of Otogakure no Sato. Although they had four on their side, realistically Shiho was useless in this battle. Yamato had not had time to really train her in anything. He looked at Sai and Naruto who was staring around them with their eyes narrowed.

"Kajika-san," The fat one said to the one wearing the shark outfit. "Which one's our target?"

The man nodded towards Sai. "That one in the black." He smiled at Yamato. "I'll take care of the jounin… Jirobo," He gestured to the fat one and then the one with six arms. "Kidomaru, you two take care of the blonde and the girl. The other three can take Sasuke…" He sent a look to each ninja. "Orochimaru-sama wants him alive… remember that."

Yamato narrowed his eyes.

If they had been looking for Sasuke… it was no secret about Orochimaru. For Yamato especially, he made sure that he was up to the latest news and gossip that involved the Snake Sannin. Rumors were that he'd set sights on a new body… the Uchiha Boy. He remembered back to the Hokage's office when he heard him say that Team 7 was supposed to get this mission.

They had a spy in Konoha.

Yamato gritted his teeth.

"Naruto… I suggest you unsheathe your sword." Yamato muttered then he looked at Sai. The genin nodded and took out a paint brush and paper, drawing a picture on it before anyone could say anything.

"**Ninpo: Choju Giga." **(Ninja Arts: Super Beast Imitating Drawing) Sai whispered. From the scroll emerged a gigantic lion. While seemingly cartoonish in nature because of its color theme, black and white, when it roared there was nothing funny about the drawing coming to life. Sai quickly leaped on top of it and the lion gave another roar before leaping over the group of sound nins and running away, leaving sounds of its paws padding on the hard rock surface.

"After him." Kajika said with flat eyes to the three nameless oto ninja. They obeyed immediately, making great bounds and leaps over the rocks to chase after their 'sasuke'.

Naruto remained silent.

Then the battle started.

Yamato and Kajika, as an unspoken rule, leaped out of the clearing both of them wanting to battle without interruption from the other weaker ninja.

"_I'll be back soon… please be ok." _

….

Naruto gripped the handle of his sword as the ones called Kidomaru aad Jirobo jumped off of the rocks. Shiho took out a kunai, holding it in a reverse grip. Though she looked determined she was shaking so bad that it Naruto wondered if she would faint from sheer shock.

"Hey… the girls mine." The one called Kidomaru licked a thumb. "I love it when they scream… Kajika-san told us we can do whatever we want with these ones right?"

Jirobo nodded. "Then I guess I'll take the blonde one." He gestured towards Naruto. "Come on trash. I'll kill you painlessly."

Naruto sighed and looked at Shiho.

"Sorry about this."

Naruto disappeared from sight and appeared behind the frightened girl. He hit her in the back of the back with the handle of his sword, which was still encased in its scabbard. Shiho fell to the ground her eyes rolling back and most definitely unconscious.

Kidomaru cocked his head to the side. "You just took my prey from me."

"Then kill me first… you insect." Naruto smirked. "She'll just get in the way anyways."

"Jirobo… this one's mine."

"Hey… you just told me-"

"What was back?" Kidomaru looked back at Jirobo, his eyes bloodshot and crazed.

"Never mind." Jirobo turned his gaze to the ground. The world was ruled by strength and nothing else. He knew that was the way of the sound and it was enforced quite strictly.

"Come on you freak," Naruto whispered as he drew his sword. "I'll gut you like the insect that you are."

Kidomaru looked around at the surroundings. The rocks were high but not exactly ideal for his techniques. Then he stared at the genin in front of him. _"No need to go all out…" _He smirked and lowered himself to the ground before throwing himself at Naruto.

Naruto dodged the initial punch then weaved to the side as Kidomaru began to throw punches with all six of his arms. Naruto dodged every single one, ducking, weaving and constantly moving never letting a fist even scrape the edge of his clothing. The blonde didn't bother to use his sword finding that his speed was enough.

Kidomaru leaped backwards sweating and panting slightly. His eyes were wide with surprise and rage. _"This kid…"_

Naruto raised his sword to his side. "That's about done for the warm up… ready for round two?" He smirked at the oto ninja. "By the way… if you want to stand a chance against me… I suggest you come at me at the same time."

"I'm going to FUCKING KILL YOU!" Kidomaru gathered his six arms to his mouth, getting ready to use a technique.

Naruto didn't give him the chance.

Naruto stabbed his sword into the ground.

Right in front of Kidomaru a spike made of chakra exploded out of the ground, thin as paper yet skewering all six of his hands and holding them in place.

Kidomaru howled with pain, all six of his hands pinned by one chakra blade.

Naruto doubled over in pain as Jirobo appeared next to him and kneed him in the stomach. He felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes from the strength of the chakra enhanced blow. Then the oto ninja grabbed Naruto's face and threw him across the clearing, the blonde slamming into a rock and shattering into pieces.

Kidomaru kneeled on the ground, looking at the palm of his hands, each of them bloodied with a paper thin hole in them.

"Are you ok Kidomaru?"

"That trash fucking cut me," Kidomaru snarled, getting to his feet once more. He used a simple technique to make his hands stop hurting, something that was more mental than ninja art. "I'll fucking kill him."

Naruto walked out of the rubble, seemingly unhurt.

His eyes were flat.

"Let's go at him together." Jirobo muttered, feeling cold all of the sudden. The blue eyes were staring right at him. "I don't like this."

Kidomaru felt the blonde's aura change. Something was different.

"I'll snipe him from far..." Kidomaru nodded. He suddenly wanted to end this fight very badly.  
"GO!"

Jirobo rushed towards Naruto again.

Naruto sheathed his sword partially and held it in front of him horizontally, one hand on the handle and the other on the scabbard. He left about an inch or two of the blade unsheathed.

"**Sora no Mai: Engetsu." **(Dance of Sky: Crescent Moon) Naruto snapped the blade shut, sheathing the whole thing.

Jirobo's body exploded into blood, flying backwards towards Kidomaru.

The spider boy stopped whatever he had been about to do and stared as his teammate's body landed next to him. There was a cut on his chest from one end to the other, perfectly straight and blood continuing to pump out of his body. Jirobo was still alive though and his eyes looked at Kidomaru, filled with unbelief at what had just happened to him. Even as his body continued to shiver and convulse he stared at Kidomaru, almost blaming the stronger ninja for sending him in first. He stared at Naruto who had sheathed his sword.

"_All he did… was sheathe about two inches of his sword… and Jirobo wasn't anywhere near him… but something hit him… what the fuck…"_

"Are you scared?" Whispered Naruto's voice from behind the ninja.

Kidomaru froze with fear, apprehension dawning in his face.

"_Fast…"_

Naruto stabbed his sword into the ground saying, **"Ryu no Mai: Kuroryu Syouten." **(Dance of Dragon: Black Dragon Ascension).

Chakra exploded out of the ground right beneath Kidomaru. Something unidentifiable grabbed Kidomaru and lifted him up into the air, formless and black. It was roiling and misty, like a pillar of black cloud yet it had been tangible enough to lift the oto ninja and carry him up into the air. In the air, the part holding Kidomaru turned into a dragon's head, its jaws wide open.

Then it snapped shut.

Kidomaru didn't get a chance to scream.

Kodmaru's body fell to the ground like a rag doll, falling on his chest and his six arms moving around lifelessly. His body sported numerous burn like wounds, different from fire but no less deadly. There was a bite mark that extended from his upper torso to his lower legs, resembling the jaw of a shark yet the holes caused by the fangs looked as if somebody had stabbed him with a giant pole. Yet his chest rose and fell with life, just as Jirobo's.

Naruto sheathed his sword, picking up the Shiho's unconscious body and walking towards the sound of battle.

Shiho shivered with fear, having witnessed Naruto's power just now.

….

Sai stood up, having stabbed the neck of the shinobi that he had just finished battling with. He stabbed his tanto into the dirst, wiping the blood from it. He drew it back and sheathed it.

There was a rustle.

Sai threw a few shurikens in that direction, redrawing his tanto and readying himself to rush towards his opponent. He stopped however seeing that it was none other than Yamato. But he didn't release the grip on his tanto.

"You killed them all I see." Yamato left the rest of the sentence unsaid, though he couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"Prove that you're Yamato." Sai's eyes were flat.

Yamato raised an arm and it turned into wood, swinging around the air for a bit before returning to its original form. Sai nodded, satisfied and sheathed his tanto once more. "They were sound ninja. They had to be killed."

"They weren't going to kill you." Yamato replied.

Sai shrugged. "I eliminate all threats to Konoha. Not just threats to myself."

Yamato couldn't really reply at that.

Naruto walked into the clearing, carrying Shiho on one shoulder.

"Naruto!" Yamato muttered, walking over to the blonde as he released Shiho, leaning her against a rock. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Naruto looked at the dead bodies then looked at Sai. "You did this?"

Sai nodded. "I did."

"Why? They weren't going to kill you… we all heard it."

"Because they are a threat to Konoha." Sai smiled at Naruto.

Naruto grew annoyed.

"Don't flash that fucking fake smile at me you bastard," He snarled. "I hate it when you do that. Don't you feel remorse? They're only our age." It was true, the sound ninja had been genin just like them. Yet Sai had killed them without blinking and he had the gall to smile.

"Remorse?" Sai cocked his head to the side, the smile still on his face. "What is that?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Y-you… you were telling the truth…"

Sai nodded. "Just as you eavesdropped on our conversation the other night… Yes. I am a member of ROOT. I have no emotions."

Naruto processed this.

"Why?..."

"Because it's necessary Naruto." Sai turned away from Naruto's blue eyes. Something about their clarity made him feel uncomfortable. "Because it's necessary."

Naruto looked at his sword and the two sound ninja he had just defeated. They had been strong… but they had underestimated Naruto. Naruto simply had not given them a chance to show their full strength. He had left them alive because he didn't really know anything about the relationship between Otogakure and Konohagakure except that it was bad.

He looked at Sai and at the unconscious Shiho, the first friends he had made in his entire life.

He closed his eyes remembering.

….

_Naruto was swinging a wooden sword in front of Takezo who sat on a nearby rock, fanning himself with a small fan. Naruto's body was drenched with sweat and he had abandoned his shirt a long time ago. With a loud yell Naruto swung forward, bringing his sword down on the head of an imaginary opponent. _

_Takezo observed this. "Come on Naruto… you're trying to split his head open from head to toe… not give him a light tap."_

_The blonde stopped._

_Takezo frowned. _

"_Hey… Takezo-sensei?" _

"_What is it?" Takezo by now should have thrown something at Naruto, called him a sissy for stopping because he was tired but something in the blonde's tone didn't let him._

"_Why did you kill that man?"_

_Takezo nodded. He had been expecting the question. On their way to this forest they had encountered a missing ninja from Amegakure no Sato. He had attacked them with a speed and ferocity that surprised even Takezo. Reacting on instinct, Musashi had drawn his sword about three inches out of the scabbard and enclosed it again. He had used __**Sora no Mai: Engetsu **__(Dance of Sky: Crescent Moon) and cut the shinobi from head to toe instantly. _

_The shinobi never felt a thing._

_Takezo had never panicked like that before but he had seen the shinobi's eyes. What he had wanted had been reflected in his eyes and it had scared him like never before._

_He had been looking at the blonde child walking next to him._

_Takezo mused wondering how to answer this question._

"_I killed that man Naruto," Takezo smiled, unable to believe that he was about to say something cheesy. "Because I wanted to protect someone who was precious to me." He walked over and poked Naruto on the forehead. "You."_

_Naruto thought about this for a second. Takezo gave him time. He was still a child and the Samurai didn't expect a lot out of him. _

"_Am I your only precious person?" _

_Takezo crossed his arms, walking back to the rock and sitting down. "No… I once had a friend, a man that I would have called my brother. He was my friend… and I risked my life to fight for him and protect him. I still would… but he's no longer in this world." Takezo closed his one good eye, remembering the blonde Namikaze. He opened it again and smiled at Naruto. "I know you didn't really make friends at in Iron Country… but one day you will meet some people whom you can call friends. They might be annoying or not consider you as their friend but… they'll be your precious people. You might find yourself wanting to do irrational things for them."_

"_I don't get it."_

"_You will…" Takezo said with a sad smile. "You will. Friends are a precious thing… protect them Naruto… even if it is from themselves."_

…_._

Naruto looked at Sai.

Never taking his eyes off of Sai, Naruto asked. "Who makes the rules in the village sensei?"

"That's Hokage-sama Naruto."

The blonde nodded.

"Sai," Naruto told his first friend. "We're not that close right now, but a man I consider my father told me this… that all friends, no matter who they are, are precious and should be protected. Even from themselves." He raised a fist pointed at Sai. "I'll protect you Sai… even from yourself. I'll protect everyone from this."

"I'll become Hokage… and make it so that you can have emotions again."

"I give you my word… Sai."

AN: Yay another chapter done. I displayed just a little of Naruto's fighting style to give you a glimpse of what it's like. There are three for modes for the Dance of Sky and as for the Dance of Dragon… well there's a lot more. REVIEW! THEY MAKE ME WANT TO WRITE MORE!


	3. Rejection of the Blade

AN: Chapter 3. As for pairings… I didn't decide. If I feel something while writing I'll put it in but I don't want to change the story just to add in a pairings. Don't forget to review afterwards! If you guys have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

…..

Sai looked at the blonde, his eyes wide with shock. The blonde had just declared to him, someone that he had met yesterday, that he would become Hokage. Not for himself or for any other dream, but to give ninjs like Sai a chance to live a normal life with emotion and bonds. He looked into Naruto's eyes which were not wavering at all.

Shiho also stared, leaning on the rock, her eyes wide with shock. No one in her entire life had ever had the guts to declare it. Sure kids had declared it back at the academy in a joking manner or had played Hokage, pretending to be the strongest ninja in the village. But no one had ever declared it in such a serious manner like Naruto had. Shiho then looked at Yamato to see what he thought of this then gasped.

Yamato had a long gash on his left leg and another one on his arm. He was holding himself upright but there was a river of blood pooling around him.

Naruto noticed this at the same time.

"Um… putting my dreams and all that aside," He muttered, his eyes widening. "I think we should clean that up pretty soon…"

Naruto watched Yamato sat down on a rock, rolling up his pants and bandaging the cut on his leg. Shiho, standing up, began to bandage the laceration on the jounin's arm. As she did this Yamato noticed a bruise on the back of her neck. Frowning he looked at Naruto who shrugged, not bothering to explain. Getting the gist of what happened Yamato promised himself that he'd train the girl first thing as soon as they got back to Konoha. Then he looked at Sai.

It didn't take too long to bandage his wounds.

"We're going to have to be much more careful from now on." Yamato muttered to the genin after clearing his throat to grab their attention.

Naruto nodded. He assumed as much. There was a certain disappointed look in Yamato's face, meaning only one thing. Yamato had allowed the sound ninja to escape. Most likely he was berating himself on the inside for letting the enemy get away. But it was a fact that it was the enemy who had escaped not Yamato. If Yamato had escaped the enemy would have followed him and seeing three weak genin he would not have hesitated to attack. Also there was no way for Yamato to return here with the possibility of leading such a strong ninja right to his students. This meant that the sound ninja had escaped and Yamato had thought it wiser to not follow.

It didn't take long to finish wrapping up Yamato's wounds.

"Come on guys," Yamato ordered, standing up though Naruto thought he saw a flash of pain on the man's face. "We have to keep moving. He'll most likely return with reinforcements." He faced Naruto. "What happened in your battle?"

Naruto thought back to Kidomaru and Jirobo, the two sound genin that he had fought against.

"Incapacitated." Naruto smiled wickedly showing two sharp canines. "Indefinitely."

Yamato nodded, expecting as much. "Come on we don't have much to go if we walk fast enough. The temple is actually situated in Fire Country. It should be around here somewhere."

Yamato began walking with Sai and Shiho in tow.

Naruto hissed in pain clutching his right arm with his left hand.

"_Damn it," _He thought grimacing. _"Takezo's sword… __**Hanakage**__(Flower Shadow) is rejecting me…" _He pushed the pain to the back of his mind and followed his team's footsteps.

True to Yamato's word Team 13 did not have to walk more than an hour or two to find the entrance to the temple. The temple was surrounded by large rocks, resembling small mountains more than anything else. There was a opening composed of a few stairs that led straight into the temple yard. The temple, though not big, was exquisitely built. The buildings were one of those old mansions and on each corner of the rooftops, there was a wooden carving of a dragon, its jaws open and a large crystal ball clenched within its fangs. There were a couple of monks that noticed them but did not make any movement. They were busy sweeping the yard.

Team 13 climbed the steps and Naruto noticed that Yamato was growing increasingly pale. He worried for the jounin but told himself that if he needed help, he would ask for it. Naruto climbed the steps silently, growing more and more excited too see the monk priests that littered the temple yard. The thing that excited him the most were their shining bald heads. He had never seen anyone with a shaved head before and wondered if it would squeak if rubbed the right way.

They were greeted by two monks.

Both of them, to Naruto looked identical. Cleanly shaved heads that shone brightly. The older one was about Yamato's age. He was holding some round object that looked like a big bell. In his other hand he held a small club looking piece of wood that he waved to hit the wooden bell as he bowed towards them. It produced a clear sound, reminding him of a woodpecker's call. He was dressed in a robe of yellow with a red sash that went from his right shoulder to left hip, wrapped around his torso. He had a pleasant face, that looked as if he had his eyes closed but still seemed to see everything. The other one seemed to be about their age. Instead of a smile, he had a scowl on his face, and had to be forced to bow. He was wearing a patched shirt of gray and similar pants that came a little below his knees.

"Yamato-dono," The older monk greeted, hitting the bell a couple of times. "You are earlier than we expected. We thought it'd take you another day."

"We walked until almost dawn yesterday." Yamato bowed as well, putting his hands together. He looked at his students, prompting them to follow suit. "I'm here to deliver the scroll into your hands Muraku-san."

The man, called Muraku-san, stood up straight and handed his tools to the young boy next to him. "Hm… a very curious predicament that you have placed us in Yamato-dono…" He looked over the jounin seeming to notice for the first time that he was wounded. "You are wounded."

"Obviously." Naruto whispered to the side. Shiho elbowed him in the ribs.

The monk, Muraku, raised an eyebrow at this. The boy next to him snickered.

"Come Yamato-dono, I shall take you to our nuns. They will tend to your wounds." Muraku turned to the kid. "Ju, take them to the guest house." Then turning towards Yamato, "This way please Yamato-dono."

Yamato followed after Muraku but not before leaving a few words for his genin. "I'll be right back… I have a feeling we're going to spend the night here so make yourselves at home." Then looking straight at Naruto, "Stay. Out. Of. Trouble."

Naruto nodded. "That's my middle name… Stay out of trouble. Uzumaki, Stay out of Trouble Naruto. Yup. Never been in trouble my whole life."

"I'm serious Naruto…" Yamato's became very grave, trying to get across his meaning to the boy. "This is politics Naruto… It's a C-rank mission. If you ever want to get more than C-rank missions or even more C-rank missions you _will _behave."

Naruto sighed. "Fine fine… geez, it's like you don't trust me or something."

Yamato threw up his hands into the air, exasperated. "Shiho, Sai keep him out of trouble. I'll be going now, I feel a bit… light headed." The jounin power walked to catch up with Muraku who had already gone a fair distance away.

"This way please." The boy called Ju gestured with his hands and led the way.

As they walked Naruto looked around the compound. It wasn't a single building, but a multitude of them. Each of them were of a different size. He had never seen buildings like them before, none of them exceeded more than one floor. Each of them had tiles on the roof that seemed to flow down then mellowed out into a flat plain. On each corner there was a statue and without fail, each one of them seemed to be sparkling clean. Naruto was amazed that the yard itself was without a speck of dust. The ground was made of stone cubes and each one of them was identical to the other. The blonde wondered how long this temple had been here and who had spent so much painstaking time to make this compound into the thing that it was today.

Ju noticed Naruto's amazed looks. Shiho was practically skipping up and down in jittery excitement. Sai seemed to be the only normal one of the bunch.

"Hey," Naruto started the conversation, tapping the junior monk on the shoulder. "Ju was it?"

The monk nodded. "Yes. What are each of your names?"

"I'm Naruto." The blonde replied, pointing a thumb at himself. "This is Shiho and Sai."

"I see." The monk looked at Shiho up and down said, "Tch."

"W-what the heck was that?" said Shiho, startled.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, a smile beginning to tug at his lips.

"I was so excited when Muraku-sama told me that ninjas were coming…" He peered at Shiho from the corner of his eye. "I was looking forward to having some eye candy around the compound even if it was for a few hours but instead they sent this flat glasses girl."

Shiho stopped walking, her mouth wide open in shock.

"He's right you know," Sai joined in. "You are flat and you wear glasses."

"I-I just… didn't go through my growth spurt yet…" Shiho finished weakly.

"Yeah yeah," Ju answered back. "At least the other one's here…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, trading a look with Sai.

"What other one?..." Naruto ventured.

"Oh I forgot to tell you," The monk turned around with a blush on his cheeks and a smile on his lips. "The Iwagakure Shinobi are already here… and one of them's a real beauty you know… I think her name was-"

"Kurotsuchi." Said a girl's voice from above them.

They had been standing right next to a tree that had been planted in the garden. The tree was boxed in by a small area filled with dirt, surrounded by stone bricks, the same kind that made up the floor. The tree was a Cherry Blossom tree and on one of the branches stood a girl, the hiate on her forehead two rocks, one behind the other.

The girl had short black hair that cupped her face. Her eyes stood out, being a faint shade of pink without pupils, with long eyelashes at the corner of her eyes. She wore a red shirt covered by a brown jacket with fishnet tights and a skirt over her shorts. She had a pair of gloves on one hand which left her fingers bare, which she was using to hold on the tree.

She leaped down from the tree landing without a sound, impressing Naruto.

"I'd appreciate it," She told Ju, never taking her eyes off of the Konoha Shinobi. "If you would not reveal useless information to other shinobi like this."

Ju nodded, hearts flying off of his eyes.

"So… you guys are from Konoha huh?" She bent low, her hands on her hips. "The one in black looks good enough… the blondie looks strong if nothing but the girl…" she smirked, reaching her full height once more. "You're useless aren't you?"

Shiho's eyes widened and the Kurotsuchi knew she'd hit the mark right on target.

"Hey…" Naruto cut in, glaring at the girl. "Back off."

Kurotsuchi looked at the blonde looking as if she'd just found something interesting to play with.

"_He's hotheaded…" _She noted to herself.

"Why?" asked the Iwagakure Genin. "It's not like I'm wrong… in fact, I'm so close to the truth that she can't even say anything in reply. If I'm wrong," She crossed her arms. "Prove me wrong."

Sai spared a glance at Shiho. The girl was so terrified that she was about to faint.

"And you," She turned to Naruto. "You can't protect her forever. You might be able to play knight in the shining armor this time but if she's a ninja… she needs to learn how to protect herself and be on the frontlines. If she's weak, what point is there in being a shinobi? She might as well just be a civilian."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort then paused to think.

He thought back to the incident with Team 8 and Kiba. The boy had obviously been taunting Shiho and had seemed so casual about it that he knew it wasn't the first time that such a thing had happened. Then he thought about the battle he had with the sound genin. Rather than let her fight he had knocked her out because she would be in the way. Because of her weakness he had been forced to use the Sky Dance with Dragon Dance. If he had used only the Dragon dance it would have been fine but the Sky Dance had a nasty after effect. He wasn't strong enough yet to use two of the three dances in conjunction like that, even if it had been one move each. Also because he was worried about Shiho's safety he had forced everything he had into ending the fight in one hit. As a result he had been weakened, though it had faded now.

If she had been partnered with another ninja other than him or anyone less capable, they would probably have both died. He remembered talking with Shiho, listening to her lament about her own weakness.

He nodded. This was her fight. He wouldn't butt in.

Kurotsuchi smirked seeing the gears turn in the boy's head and reaching the conclusion that she had wanted him to reach. "Well… so neither of you are denying that she's weak are you?" She laughed, her high pitched laugh filling the air. "This is so like Konoha! You guys are so caught up in your own morality that if someone attacks you with the truth you have no ways to defend yourself!"

"Completely true." Naruto commented, shocking everyone there.

"W-what?" Ju muttered his eyes wide with shock.

"She's right," Naruto crossed his arms cradling his sword in his arms. "That is something that Konoha's weak against… the truth."

"That's why I'm going to change it..." He looked at Sai remembering his promise. "I'll change Konoha."

Kurotsuchi's eyes widened then she grabbed her stomach, bending backwards with laughter. Her laughter filled the air once more, sounding like high pitched bells, her rings of laughter building on top of each other. She pointed at Naruto and laughed, wheezing with laughter.

"H-he," She gasped. "Said h-he'll b-b-b-become Hokage… to c-change the village! What a fool!"

Naruto peered at her. "So what's your dream?"

She stopped laughing immediately.

She began to blush.

"T-that's none of your concern blondie!" She growled, the blush still on her face.

Shiho managed to smile a bit, seeing the confident kunoichi from before become pressured.

"I see," Sai finally spoke, surprising Ju. The monk had been beginning to think that the ninja was mute. "So you're a two faced liar. You laugh at one person's dream but when confronted with yours you can't even say it because of the absurdity of your dream. That's why you called him a fool, because secretly you are jealous that he can say his dream with such clarity and conviction while on the other hand… you're too embarrassed to say it."

He smiled at the shocked Kurotsuchi. "From now on your name is two faced liar."

"Watch it," She replied, her voice dangerously low. "I'm not above ruining your pretty face… Konoha Scum."

Sai gave his signature fake smile at her. "You're pretty on the outside but pretty ugly on the inside aren't you?"

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Kurotsuchi lunged towards Sai her hands moving towards each other to form hand seals.

Naruto grabbed his sword right above the guard and thrust forward without moving a single step. The handle of the sword interrupted her chain of hand seals, being caught between her hands.

"Easy there," Naruto muttered enjoying the look of surprise on Kurotsuchi's face. "We don't want another repeat of the Third Shinobi war… do we?"

Kurotsuchi looked down at her hands, her fingers had practiced these hand seals a hundred times. Yet the blonde had countered it with such an easy method, aiming for the split second when she was going from one seal to another to stick his handle in between, knocking a few of her fingers away and disrupting the whole jutsu. The timing, the strength necessary and above all, even the thought to use his sword in such a way… this guy…

"_He's strong." _Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes then widened them once more when seeing what had happened.

Naruto was facing Kurotsuchi, his legs bent and body looking as if he was about to lunge forward. He had thrust forward by grabbing his sword by the scabbard right above its handle and interrupted Kurotsuchi's jutsu with the handle. However he had done so that the point of the scabbard stabbed right into Sai's tricep, which was in the air because he had been reaching back to grab his Tanto.

With one move the blonde had stopped both ninjas, and from what Kurotsuchi could see, the one in black was skilled as well.

"_Not just strong… dangerous." _

"Um… please calm down," Ju muttered into the silence. "I still have to lead you to your sleeping quarters."

Kurotsuchi backed up but grabbed the handle of the sword once and gave a strong tug, reminding the blonde that she could had drawn it at anytime. Naruto smiled and nodded, acknowledging the move. Sai lowered his arm, rubbing the place where Naruto's scabbard had stabbed into his tricep.

"Your name," Kurotsuchi asked the blonde. "I would like to know."

"Uzumaki Naruto." He spun the sword once and cradled it in his arms, putting his hands in his the sleeves of the opposite hand. "I'd also appreciate it if you stop provoking my teammates like that."

"Done." The girl answered. "If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be." She left the clearing jumping onto the roof of the building next to them and disappearing from view.

Naruto looked at Sai, conveying a message. The genin nodded, disappearing in the same fashion that the girl had.

Ju observed all this suspiciously.

"I hope you do realize that temple grounds is neutral grounds." He sighed looking at them.

"Where did Sai go?" Shiho asked Naruto, ignoring the young monk.

"To Yamato-sensei." Naruto replied. "Because that girl's going to inform her sensei that we're here. We should do the same. Don't you think?"

Shiho nodded, seeing the logic in Naruto's answer.

Ju sighed once more, tired of being ignored. "Come on… I'll take you guys to where you need to go."

…

Kurotsuchi entered the room, seeing her teammates and her Sensei.

"You're back late Kurotsuchi," her sensei told her. He was sitting on the floor, his legs crossed and his hands on his knees. His eyes were closed in a meditative trance.

He had light-brown hair, so spiky that it was pointing all over the place, leaving his forehead for all to see. He wore the Iwagakure flak jacket and a single sleeved shirt underneath. On his right arm he had tied his forehead protector wrapped around his arm. He had gaunt cheeks, and was rather popular among the village populace. He was a well built man though not overly muscular.

"I encountered some… rather interesting people on the way." Kurotsuchi explained, sitting down.

"Konoha?" He opened his eyes, revealing green pupils. "I hope you didn't cause any trouble… Kurotsuchi."

She opened her mouth to say something then closed it, thinking better of it. "I didn't."

Her other teammate laughed full of belly. He was large for his age, both vertically and horizontally. He had a big round nose, with full cheeks and dark round eyes. He opened his forehead protector into a bandana and wore it as such, a few strands of hair that leaked out from the back. He was wearing the same outfit as Kurotsuchi, minus the skirt with a yellow scarf around his neck.

"She's lying." He laughed. "I can tell she's lying through her teeth."

"Shut up Akatsuchi!" Kurotsuchi hissed.

"_Are _you lying Kurotsuchi?" Gari inquired, truly curious.

Kurotsuchi blushed and scratched the back of her head. "Heh… yeah… I started a fight."

"Tried to," said another voice as the owner entered the room. "I saw the whole thing. This blonde kid with a sword and six dark stripes on his face stopped her and his teammate in one move. She got schooled."

"Mumaru," Kurotsuchi snarled as she faced the newcomer. "You were spying on me?"

"I just happened to pass by." The boy shrugged. He was wearing bandages all over his body, even his feet and up to his neck. He had spiky black hair that were pointed towards the back. He had slits for eyes, barely showing pupils. He had a red shirt over his torso and black pants, though the bandages covered even underneath those clothing. He wore the Iwagakure forehead protector over his forehead. On his back there was a single sword held diagonally, its handle wrapped in bandages as well.

Gari gave a very level look at Kurotsuchi who looked away.

"That kind of behavior is certainly unbecoming of the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage…" Gari muttered. "And you know what's expected of you."

"She got goaded by the kid who was good looking," Mumaru tattled. "I think he hurt her feelings cause she wanted him to be nice to her."

"SHUT UP MUMARU!"

Akatsuchi just laughed enjoying the show.

Gari sighed and smiled at his students as they began to argue.

Kurotsuchi was the granddaughter of their Tsuchikage, the Sandaime. She was a talented shinobi in her own rights and though she had not received the same aptitude for **Jinton **(Dust Release) as her grandfather had, she had enough talent of her own to be considered as a genius. Then again, his team was filled with geniuses, the reason why he, the commander of the Explosion Corps, had been chosen to be their teacher.

Akatsuchi, though he didn't come from a renown family like the other two, came from a regular clan. Yet he was already the clan's most promising aspect for their return to their former glory. Akatsuchi was currently the only one in the clan who had been born with enough talent and chakra to use their signature jutsu with deadly effectiveness. The clan was known for using golems to fight but Akatsuchi's golems were on a whole entire level. While most of the clans used golems as substitutes or distractions, Akatsuchi's golems could actually fight in his place. The boy was a prodigy in his own rights as well.

Then there was Mumaru.

Mumaru was the spitting image of the second Tsuchikage, Mu. He descended directly from his family line and had received the aptitude for Jinton, making him the sole heir of the current Onoki. Onoki had put him under Gari's tutelage for him to gain more experience. When Mumaru became a chuunin he would undergo serious training using the Jinton under the Tsuchikage. Jinton was a Kekkai Tota, an advanced blood line, a blood line that transcended other blood lines. It was one of the strongest weapons that Iwagakure no Sato possessed and when Mumaru had been found to show an aptitude for it, he was praised as the savior of the village. Because Onoki was of age the people had begun to fear that even if another Jinton user had been born, there would be no one to teach him. Luckily, Mumaru, born from the same clan as Mu, came along to the village's pleasant surprise.

Gari looked at the door wondering what kind of individuals Konohagakure no Sato had sent. He wondered if their counterparts were as talented as the three students he had.

….

"What am I," Naruto complained. "A rabbit?" He scowled and held up his dish filled with green vegetables.

"You are in a monastery Naruto," Shiho chided. "They're vegetarians."

"I'm a vegetarian too," argued the blonde. "I eat vegetarians. Like cows, pigs, chickens-" He began to count off the animals on his hand.

Sai was eating like a mad man, shoveling everything he could into his mouth.

"_ROOT made us eat tree roots for a month. Once we even had to eat our own crap. This is nothing." _

Ju opened the sliding door and peeked in. "Hey are you guys done yet? Muraku-sama wants you guys at the main sanctuary."

Naruto flashed a smile at the young monk. "I'm not really hungry."

Ju spied the vegetables. "Ah… not a fan of vegetarians are you?"

"I love vegetarians." Naruto quipped. "As long as I'm eating them."

Ju sighed. "Come to the main sanctuary when you guys are ready. I delivered my message!" With those as his last words the monk closed the door, leaving the three to their meal.

"What did Yamato-sensei say?" Naruto asked Sai. Shiho stopped picking around her plate to listen as well, curious as to what her teammate had to say.

"He didn't say much." Sai cleaned his mouth with a napkin. "Just told us to stay out of trouble."

"Trouble has a way of finding us." Sighed Naruto, remembering the girl from Iwa. "Hey, are we safe here? What if those Oto Shinobi attack us again?"

"No chance of that." Shiho pushed her glasses with her index finger.

"_Uh oh," _thought Naruto. _"She's going into her nerd mode."_

"We are currently in neutral grounds. All monasteries such as this one has been declared to be neutral ground by all shinobi villages after the second Shinobi War. It was a favorite tactic of a lot of ninja that when they were being chased to enter a temple. Once entered within a temple they were granted not only protection, but medical attention as well. It couldn't be easily penetrated as well because the monks are not just monks but they have their own fighting styles similar to shinobi and samurais."

"If Oto ninja decided to break the truce and attack us," Shiho continued. "Not only are they declaring war on Konohagakure no Sato and the temple, they are breaking the one rule that all shinobi has agreed to follow, the neutrality of the temples. Therefore not only will Otogakure no Sato be ostracized from the rest of the shinobi world, it's a possibility that the five villages might work in conjunction to destroy them. It's a very special rule that everyone follows."

Naruto had listened to only half of Shiho's explanation. "These monks know how to fight?"

"Oh yes." Shiho nodded. "They're not ninjas per say… but they're not samurais either. They have a special form of fighting that is passed down only to themselves. It has a lot to do with taijutsu and ninjutsu, much like the samurai. You could say genjutsu is somewhat a shinobi art. But these monks are said to utilize the elements in a way that they're almost one with them."

"Hmm." Mused Naruto. "So that Ju guy… he probably knows how to fight too?"

"Don't even think about it Naruto." Shiho's tone was grave. "This is serious… we could get in serious trouble for attacking a monk."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey… fine." He stood up, picking up his sword and cradling it in his arms again. "Let's go. They wanted us in the main temple."

….

The main temple was huge, the ceilings reaching as far as the sky itself. The double doors were at least thirty feet tall, though it opened with a simple touch. Within there was path going straight from the door to a huge stature of a huge Buddha statue. Naruto shivered when he saw the stature. Something about it made his stomach fill with butterflies. But he ignored it, absorbing the surroundings.

The room stretched so far to the side that light faded before the walls could be seen. The light were from the path from the door to the huge Buddha statue, it was lined with thin iron lamps and in between them statues of lions that were sitting down with one paw raised. They all had their jaws open and glared in a way that made Naruto think that they were permanently annoyed. Dismissing the decorations Naruto looked at the people waiting for them.

The one called Muraku sat directly in front of the statue. To his left sat Yamato and to his opposite sat four people, the genin from Iwagakure among them. Judging from the forehead protectors they were all from Iwagakure no Sato. The one with spiky hair was no doubt their jounin teacher. The one sitting right next to him was covered in bandages up to his neck. Then there was the girl then a huge genin that resembled a rock more than anything else.

Following suit, team 13 sat down on the opposite side, Naruto Shiho then Sai.

"Ah… I'm glad you are all here." Muraku gestured at everyone with one arm. "There's a reason I called all of you out here today."

"Yamato-dono… instead of using me as the medium why don't you hand the scroll to Gari-dono yourself?"

Yamato's face faulted. "W-what? You called us here… just for that?"

Gari groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. _"This old man…" _

"Yes." Muraku smiled once more. "Wouldn't this be a great sign of being friendly with one another? You could directly hand the scroll to Gari-dono."

Yamato cleared his throat and got up, the scroll in his hand. "Well then, I'll be giving you the scroll."

Gari stood up as well. "Yes. I guess… I'll be receiving the scroll."

Yamato handed the scroll over to the man called Gari, both of them smiling at each other.

"_What with this awkwardness…." _Naruto sighed and allowed the sword to rest on his cheek.

Yamato and Gari shook hands and started to walk back to their places.

"Now now… surely you don't think that's the end?" Muraku's smile didn't leave his face.

"_Damn it… this old man…" _Gari glared but Muraku pretended not to notice.

"How about a friendly sparring match between your teams?" Muraku clapped his hands together, excited at the prospect. "We can have one right now. After all, it's still only a bit after lunch. I think that's the true sign of friendship when you can have a friendly sparring match without any hard feelings involved." He looked both ways at each of the teams. "Don't you think so?"

Yamato smiled and put up his hands. "No… I don't think my students-"

"Now now don't be like that." Muraku looked at Gari. "What do you think?"

Gari's eyes turned flat. "Actually…" He looked at his students who nodded. "I'd like to see that."

Yamato's smile faded off of his face. _"Is that how it is…"_

"Fine I accept." The Konoha Jounin answered not even bothering to look at is students. "Shall we go outside and start?"

…

"Let's have these matches be one on one shall we?" Muraku said while smiling. Ju was sweeping the yard but paused to watch. "Please choose the order of your battles."

Yamato motioned for his students to hurdle around him. "Sai you will go first. Then Shiho then Naruto."

Sai nodded. Naruto peered at Shiho but did not bother to say anything.

"But sensei," Naruto whispered. "Is it ok for us to fight like this? I thought it was supposed to be an alliance… why I feel like we got sucked up into something petty?"

Yamato sighed. "Muraku-san is known for liking shinobi fights… he's always invited to the Chuunin exams in both Konoha and Iwa. I'm starting to think he arranged this… but as long as this is going on, our pride as Konoha Shinobi is riding on this." His face turned serious. "don't let me down."

Naruto peeked over at the other team and they were doing the same.

"Sai, Naruto go and prepare for your battle. I'm going to talk to Shiho for a bit."

Naruto walked away with Sai in tow, his sword cradled in his arms. "Hey Sai… don't you think this developed into a situation way too fast?"

Sai nodded looking at the girl who seemed to be glaring right at him. "It looks as if my opponent has already been chosen." He put on his smile. "That two faced liar it seems." He said it loud enough for the Iwa shinobi to hear.

Hearing this Mumaru smirked and Akatsuchi burst into laughter. Gari put on a straight face and simply nodded at Kurotsuchi.

The genin bounded forward, a few feet away from Sai.

"Don't lose." Naruto muttered with a bored expression and the ROOT member nodded before walking up to Kurotsuchi.

Muraku cleared his throat. "If both sides are ready… begin!"

Kurotsuchi threw herself at Sai taking out a kunai. Sai spun on his feet and drew his tanto, meeting her charge with a loud clang of metal on metal.

"Your friend won't save you this time… pretty boy." She said with a smirk, her face right in front of Sai's.

"It seems you are mistaken." Sai's smile melted off of his face. "It wasn't me he was saving… he was saving you." Sai held the Tanto with only one hand and with the other he had taken out a paint brush. Kurotsuchi looked at the hand but it was too late. The paint brush practically flew across his abdomen drawing a series of lions. Kurotsuchi leaped away instantly, her hands flying into preparation for a ninjutsu.

Sai formed his own hand seals muttering, **"Ninpo: Choju Giga." **(Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation Drawing)

The lions leaped off of his stomach, coming to life and leaping across the space between them.

Kurotsuchi put a hand to her mouth her cheek swelling up. **"Suiton: Mizurappa." **(Water Release: Water Trumpet Technique) A torrent of water jetted out of her mouth, hitting the ink lions and turning them back into harmless ink once more. She landed on the ground and ran towards Sai once more throwing a few kunai at him.

"_His jutsu is range based… I'll take him on with Taijutsu."_

Kurotsuchi took out a kunai holding it in a reverse grip. She attempted to cut Sai across the chest only for him to block using his tanto, which he was also holding in a reverse grip. He took his paint brush and tried to draw again but felt Kurotsuchi grab his wrist.

"I already have your techniques figured out," She whispered. "It won't work again."

Sai didn't reply.

Then he felt the cold of steel touch the back of his neck.

Another Kurotsuchi was right behind him holding the kunai that was aimed at his neck.

Naruto nodded. She had used her water technique and when it collided with Sai's technique, it had obscured his view for just a second, long enough to form an earth clone. The earth clone, to Naruto's surprise, sunk into the ground and appeared only when Kurotsuchi had disabled Sai. He was impressed with the girl's quick thinking.

But Sai was better.

Sai exploded into ink, covering both the clone and the real Kurotsuchi. Kurotsuchi covered her heard, trying to keep the ink from entering her eyes in order to form some semblance of vision.

Sai's torso exploded out of the ground, his hands clutched in a single hand seal. **"Ninpo: Sumi Nagashi." **(Ninja Arts: Ink Flush)

The ink suddenly harded, acting like ropes and coiling around both Kurotsuchi and her clone. Unable to handle the sudden pressure her clone turned back into earth, melting into mud. Kurotsuchi fell over to the side, the ropes of ink binding around her legs, torso and arms and keeping her unable to keep even her balance. She struggled against the bonds to no avail.

Sai hopped out of the little hole in the ground. "I believe victory is mine." He undid the jutsu, allowing the Iwa Genin to go free. She lay there on the ground, her eyes wide with shock.

"N-no way…" She whispered. "I just lost…. To a Konoha Genin… no way this is possible… NO WAY! YOU CHEATED! SOMEONE HELPED YOU! NO WAY!" She ran over to Sai and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"I just defeated you using my skills… not only are you a two faced liar," Sai said with a straight and emotionless face. "But you're just a weakling too aren't you? Are all Iwagakure Ninja like this?"

Kurotsuchi raised a fist.

"Kurotsuchi!" Gari snapped, his voice cracking like a whip. "That's enough… come back here."

Naruto looked at the Iwagakure Ninja. Before they had an air of amusement and confidence.

Now…

All of them looked seriously pissed off. Even the big one that had been laughing constantly had ceased to smile, glaring at Naruto with a look of pure hatred. The one called Mumaru actually grabbed the hilt of his sword. Kurotsuchi gave one last look at Sai before walking back to where her sensei was. Gari looked the most pissed off out of all of them. He was glaring at Sai as if he wanted to face off against the genin himself.

Naruto sighed and looked back as Yamato finished talking to Shiho. Shiho nodded and seemed to notice the atmosphere of the Iwagakure Ninja for the first time. She looked at Naruto as if asking for an explanation. Naruto flapped his hand in the shape of a mouth and pointed at Sai. Shiho shot a desperate glance at Sai who smiled at her.

"Come on… Shiho, just do what I say." Yamato patted her on the shoulder. "You'll be fine."

Shiho gulped walking in front of her opponent.

The one in bandages walked up to meet her.

"_Oh shit," _Naruto cursed inwardly. _"This is over…" _He glanced at Yamato who had paled. _"He knows it too I guess…" _

Shiho was shaking with fear.

Mumaru sighed. _"I wanted the blonde one… but I guess not." _He sent a look in Naruto's direction. _"Perhaps in the future if we're fated to meet." _

"Begin!" Muraku yelled out.

Shiho immediately threw a barrage of shuriken as soon as Muraku had yelled.

Mumaru took out a kunai of his own and blocked them in an almost bored manner. _"I won't even need to use a jutsu against her." _

Shiho, after throwing the shuriken, threw another barrage of kunai.

Mumaru blocked those as well in the same manner. _"Hmm… looks like she's up to something." _

Shiho touched the ground sending a pulse of chakra.

"Mumaru!" Kurotsuchi warned.

The shuriken and kunai all puffed into smoke turning back into slips of paper that were burning with fire.

Mumaru glared at Kurotsuchi, his eyes bloodshot.

"_R-right…" _Kurotsuchi gulped and looked away. _"There's no way he didn't notice that…" _

Mumaru's arms moved in a blur, throwing a shuriken in every direction.

Shiho's eyes widened.

Each of the shuriken that he had thrown had hit the part of the seal that caused the explosion. By breaking the seal at that exact spot he had prevented the seals from exploding. The fact that he threw the shuriken with such precision and had remained calm in that ordeal meant that he had know that she was throwing explosive tags.

Yamato narrowed his eyes. _"These are not normal genin." _

"Shiho-" He began but he was too late.

The bandaged genin rushed into motion and in the blink of an eye, struck Shiho in the right shoulder, stomach and chin, sending her flying backwards unconscious.

He didn't even say anything, turning around and walking towards his team once more. "What a waste of time." He whispered.

Gari smirked.

Naruto sighed, keeping his bored expression on his face. He looked at Shiho. _"At least she tried her best." _Nodding and steeling himself he walked into place, seeing his opponent, the big guy named Akatsuchi already waiting for him.

"I'm not going to go easy on you." The giant said to the blonde. "You can thank your friend for that."

"I'm not going to go easy on you," Naruto said, glaring at his opponent. "You can thank _your _friend for that."

Akatsuchi narrowed his eyes.

"Hey," Naruto leaned back on the balls of his feet. "The food that they serve here… there's no way you're eating it. You have a secret stash of your own food don't you? There's no way you can maintain that size with the rabbit food that they serve here.

"_How'd he know…" _Akatsuchi gulped.

"If I beat you," Naruto took his hands out of their sleeves, holding the sword a little above the handle by the scabbard. "Give it to me."

"Enough talking," Muraku clapped his hands. "Begin!"

Naruto waited for Akatsuchi to make the first move.

"_This guy's strong… Kurotsuchi told me not to underestimate him… so I'm going with my strongest technique." _Akatsuchi formed a handseal, muttering, **"Doton: Goremu no Jutsu." **(Earth Release: Golem Technique) Akatsuchi opened his mouth and two hands crabbed onto the corners of his mouth, a new being opening his mouth and emerging.

Naruto made a disgusted expression. "Never mind… you can keep your food… please don't throw up."

A humanoid creature made out of earth appeared in front of Naruto. Akatsuchi wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, wiping some drool away. It had horns on the side of its heads and had large hands, looking at Naruto menacingly.

"Isn't it going to say it's clobbering time?" Naruto quipped with a smile. Getting no reaction from anyone Naruto shrugged.

He rushed towards the golem which raised its arm to slam Naruto to the ground. Naruto raised his sword, meeting the descending fist with the handle of his sword. His eyes widened.

"**Sora no Mai: Engetsu." **(Dance of Sky: Crescent Moon) Naruto whispered. He lowered his body to the ground for a split second, revealing about two inches of the blade before snapping it shut once more. This entire motion was so fast that the jounins were the only who saw exactly what it was that Naruto had done. The other genin had barely seen a blur.

The golem exploded into dust, clouding the battle for a few second. Akatsuchi jumped into the air out of the dust and jumped into the dust cloud once more, fist first towards where Naruto had been approximately. They heard a loud crash and a few pieces of gravel.

The dust cleared showing them what had happened.

The golem still stood, though there was a large gash on its chest. Yet the jutsu had not dissipated from the simple cut. Sometime during the brawl it had raised both arms as a hammer fist and attempted to slam it down on Naruto. On top of the fist was Akatsuchi who had punched on top of the hammer fist to increase its strength. Naruto stood beneath the hammer fist straining and sweating. He still had his sword in its scabbard, which was being used to hold the fist at bay by intercepting the wrist. He held the handle of the sword and his other hand was supporting the sword by pushing the middle of the scabbard with a palm.

"_Instead of taking the fist head on," _Gari narrowed his eyes, impressed with the blonde swordsman. _"He hit the wrist which carries less weight… even though he's not as strong as Akatsuchi, he's overcoming the difference by skill. Even besides that the sword's blade never touched the golem… all he did was draw it about two inches and snap it back really fast… just what was that technique?"_

"You're… really heavy…" Naruto muttered. "you need to go on a diet!" He drew the sword out of the scabbard about two inches before snapping it back shut. Akatsuchi leaped away using only one arm, a display of casual strength. But the golem wasn't so lucky. The golem screeched as both of its fists fell to the ground, sliced cleanly from the wrist. Naruto didn't stop his rush, as soon as the fist fell, he dodged the falling debris and ran right in front of the golem.

Naruto turned his body sideways and pushed his palm on to the end of the handle, stabbing the golem in the stomach with the point of the sword. Though the scabbard's edge wasn't sharp at all, it managed to pierce through the golem's rocky exterior sending cracks throughout the body. Naruto gave a yell and sent a pulse of chakra from his palm at the handle of the sword, deepening the cracks in the golem. With another screech the golem crumbled and from the back Akatsuchi's fist came towards Naruto's face.

Naruto grabbed the sword by the handle and hit the bottom side of the scabbard with his other palm, holding it upright once more. The point of the sword hit Akatsuchi's wrist, sending the fist sailing harmlessly upwards. Naruto stepped in, continuing the arc of his sword and stabbed Akatsuchi's stomach with his handle, making the genin double over in pain.

"_I'm not finished." _Naruto's turned his foot outwards then bent it backwards, kicking Akatsuchi's heel with his own while stabbing his chest with the handle of his sword. Akatsuchi began to fall backwards.

When Akatsuchi opened his eyes Naruto was holding the sword to his neck sideways.

"If this was a battle," Naruto whispered. "I'd have decapitated you by now."

Akatsuchi just stared at Naruto's face unable to believe that he had just lost.

Naruto got up smiling and walked back over to his team. "You can keep your snacks."

…..

The room was dark yet huge. There was a single light source, a worn out light bulb hung on the ceiling. There was a single bed with a man wrapped in bandages in it. He had long black hair hung down to his waist with eyes that sent a sliver of fear into Kajika's heart. Kajika was standing across from the man who sat on his bed, being treated by a silver haired young ninja. The yong ninja had glasses and an outfit consisting of dark blue clothes that he had often seen on Konoha Shinobi but he didn't ask.

Orochimaru was from Konoha after all.

"Well?" Orochimaru's voice seemed to slither in the air like a snake's.

Kajika hated that voice.

"He got away… he killed three shinobi of yours." He grimaced expecting to hear some type of reprimand.

Or perhaps death.

"That's no problem… they can be replaced." Orochimaru said with a smirk. "I heard that the two of the sound four who accompanied you, Jirobo and Kidomaru… were injured? Which one was it? I didn't know Konoha had such a talented genin that I did not know about."

"It was a blonde boy with a sword." He frowned trying to remember. "I… I don't know his name. Just how he looks."

"A blonde with a sword you say?" The medic nin muttered. He leaned down and whispered into Orochimaru's ear.

Orochimaru's eyes widened and then…

"Kukukukukukuku… is that so?" Orochimaru seemed to be shivering. "My my… I was wondering where he had gone to. What am interesting boy… keep an eye on him Kabuto."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto replied.

"As for you… Kajika," Orochimaru turned his attention back to him. Kajika felt as if he was the rat to Orochimaru's snake. "I have special plans for you…. Kukukukukuku"

Kajika gulped, narrowing his eyes. Whatever this snake had in store for him, he promised himself that he wouldn't just be treated like some street scum that he found on the bottom of his shoe. He'd bide his time and wait… for now.

…

Night had arrived, the moon making its daily visit on the sky above. The temple was quiet, cold winds blowing in the night ,a few stray leaves being blown here and there from the few trees that existed in the temple. As the night got deeper and deeper, the brightly lit doors that shone with light from the inside began to blink out one by one, leaving only darkness in its wake.

Naruto sat on the roof, looking at his Master's sword, **Hanakage. **(Flower Shadow)

He was deep in thought, looking at his reflection in the blade. The blonde seemed a little sad, his head tilted towards the side, staring at the sword with frustration in his eyes. He grimaced as he moved his arms, feeling an intense sensation akin to a burn travel from his hands to his shoulders. He gritted his teeth as to not make any noise.

"_As I thought… the sword is rejecting me." _He thought sadly. _"I thought I might be able to use my master's sword… but it's rejecting me. Because the one who defeated my master wasn't me… it was that man." _

An image of a shadow covered man flashed in his head, with lavender eyes staring at him as if he was not even worth killing.

"_At this rate… if I keep using the sword I won't be able to use the rest of the dances, much less be able to fight all out. I'm going to need my own sword… but… master's sword… Flower Shadow… why won't you accept me…" _Naruto winced at the burning sensation in his arm. Because the sword kept on rejecting him and his chakra, whenever Naruto forced his chakra into it there was a lot of feedback afterwards. Not only did he have to expend more chakra than necessary, but the technique came out not even a tenth of what it was supposed to be. Naruto knew that as they fought stronger opponents this could not be allowed.

Naruto grabbed the sword by the scabbard a little above the guard and slid it upwards, sending the handle flying into the air behind him until it met resistance.

"Who the hell are you," Naruto whispered. "And what do you want with me."

"Quite unique, your method of defense I mean." Said a voice behind him. Naruto looked at the black scabbard seeing his assailant's reflection. It was the boy who was covered in bandages from the neck down. His right arm had been reaching back to draw the sword on his back but Naruto's handle had stabbed into his elbow, in the same manner that he had stopped Sai. "I'm Mumaru."

"Your method of introduction is quite unique too." Naruto quipped, not taking the pressure off of his sword. "I'll ask you again, what do you want with me?"

Mumaru narrowed his eyes though Naruto could not see it.

"I've never seen Akatsuchi lose… in such a one sided manner before. You only used a fraction of your sword… Akatsuchi held back too but I have a feeling you would have won regardless." Mumaru tightened the pressure on his arm and felt the swords handle dig deeper into his arm.

"I want to see exactly how strong you are, Uzumaki Naruto."

Mumaru leaped away as Naruto's handle disappeared from his arm and was thrust into the air where his head had been. Mumaru skidded along the ground his legs to either side of him and one hand on the ground. The other hand was still holding onto the handle of his own sword. Naruto turned around, skidding on the ground in the same position as Mumaru except that he held his sword by the scabbard sideways in front of him.

"I'm really not in the mood," Naruto tilted his head in a wondering gesture. "But if you want to be my punching bag, I'll gladly take out my stress on you."

Mumaru put a single hand seal. "I'll show you the technique that made Iwagakure no Sato famous in the war… **Meisaigakure no Jutsu.**" (Hiding With Camouflage Technique)

Naruto raised an eyebrow as Mumaru began to disappear from view from head to toe, completely blending with his surroundings. After realizing what had happened the blonde narrowed his eyes grabbed the handle of his sword, drawing it.

"_No one's looking… perhaps it's time for me to be serious for once." _He leaped off of the roof and landed on the stone floor of the yard drawing his sword.

"Come on you mummy," Naruto snarled. "Show yourself."

Mumaru slashed downwards with his sword right behind Naruto. To his shock the blonde spun and slashed with his sword, forcing Mumaru to jump up into the air. Naruto stabbed his sword into the ground.

Paper thin blades of chakra exploded out of the ground in an outward formation. Surrounding the blonde, pointing outwards. It looked as if Naruto was in the middle of a plate made of paper think spikes.

Some of the spikes behind him were dripping with blood.

"Mummies bleed after all…" Naruto whispered peering at the blades that were dripping with blood.

Mumaru back pedaled as fast as he could, his sword returned to its strap on his back. He began to form hand seals. _"He's dangerous… that move could have killed me. He's serious about it." _

Naruto appeared right in front of him stabbing the ground in front of Mumaru. A single blade of chakra shot out of the ground, skewering both of Mumaru's hands which were in the middle of forming a hand seal. Mumaru stifled a scream and to his credit attempted to kick Naruto with one leg. Naruto released his sword, leaving it embedded in the ground ensuring that the chakra blade kept Mumaru's hands pinned in place. Naruto ducked underneath the kick then grabbed his sword again, sliding it a couple of inches. As the blade moved the chakra blade moved as well cutting a straight line in Mumaru's hands towards his wrist.

Mumaru leaped backwards taking the chakra blade out of his hand. Naruto gripped his sword and drew it out of the ground, rushing towards where Mumaru was once more.

Mumaru switched directions.

Naruto switched directions as well following him right away a smirk on his lips.

Mumaru's eyes widened with shock. _"How the hell is he following me?" _

"Hey," Naruto whispered, his face suddenly right in front of Mumaru's. "You're bleeding all over the place, poor Ju's going to have to clean all this up tomorrow."

Shocked Mumaru fell backwards dispelling the jutsu.

Naruto placed his sword on the side of Mumaru's neck.

"What's wrong… why don't you continue?"

Naruto smirked. "Why?... so you have an excuse for using that jutsu?"

Naruto bent a little low, yet on his feet. He had gripped his hands in both hands and had placed it next to Mumaru's neck. His feet were pointed sideways and all Naruto needed to do was continue twisting his hips to face forward in order to finish off this battle. But he didn't, interested in the jutsu that Mumaru had in his hands.

Mumaru was on his back and his hands were gathered together as if he was warming them in front of a fire. But in between his outstretched hands was a small transparent cube with a bright sphere in the middle. Naruto didn't know how much damage the jutsu would do but it contained an insane amount of chakra from what he could tell.

He became interested in it.

"Then shall we continue on three?"

Mumaru's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"On three," Naruto said, his voice beginning to quiver. But it wasn't a quiver of fear, Mumaru could tell, it was a quiver of excitement. "You fire your little jutsu and I'll try to cut off your head."

This guy was having fun.

"W-we can't." Mumaru found his voice shaking as well but it wasn't like Naruto's.

His was full of fear.

Naruto frowned.

"W-we'd kill each other and cause an international uproar… our villages might go into war once more." Mumaru continued. "I-I'm the sole heir of the Jinton in my village right now… there's no way that they'd just stand still and let Konoha-"

"Shut up." Naruto snarled. "You're taking the fun out of it."

"W-we could die from this!" Mumaru raised his voice. "You can't just-"

Naruto lowered his face to meet Mumaru's own. "I don't care." Then he cocked his head to the side. "Besides… I thought Shinobi were supposed to be ready to die at any moment's notice."

Mumaru gasped. _"This guy's… mad… I challenged this… monster…" _

"Ready?" Naruto continued, smiling once more. "On three…. One… two… TH-"

"STOP!"

Naruto sighed taking the blade out of the ground and sheathing it once more. Mumaru's technique disappeared into the air and the genin seemed to almost melt on the ground, the tension leaving his body.

"I wasn't going to kill him." Naruto sighed. "He challenged me first… I just wanted to see what Iwagakure ninja were made of." He looked back at Mumaru.

"Naruto… that was the jinton. If you had been hit with it you would have died for sure." Yamato and Gari stood next to each other. Gari walked over to Mumaru helping his pupil to his feet who was shaking with fear, shooting frightened glances at the blonde.

Yamato walked over to Naruto and flicked him on the forehead.

"Apologize." Yamato placed both hands on his hips, using his ghoul face.

Naruto gulped and hung his head. "S-sorry… I mean… you're the one who challenged me first though…"

"Don't worry about it little one." Gari said with resignation in his voice. "I think this was a good experience for Mumaru…"

"_This was his first real life and death experience… he couldn't even tell that the boy was joking… it seems Mumaru still has a while to go." _Gari looked at Mumaru who had regained his composure. "Mumaru… you should apologize too."

The bandaged boy cleared his throat. "I… It was my fault." He shook his head. _"If I held back anymore… this boy… I can't hold back against him… even if I go full out… I wonder if I can defeat him." _

Naruto sighed and put his hands in the opposite arms sleeves again, cradling the sword in his arms. "If you know that's fine…" Then a predatory gleam appeared in his eyes again. "I look forward to a rematch sometime in the future…"

Mumaru nodded though it was rather stiff. "So do I." With those words Gari and Mumaru walked away, leaving the ground of Yamato yelling his head off at Naruto in the back ground.

"So… how was he?" Gari asked in a bare whisper.

"Strong." Mumaru shivered. "And dangerous. I've never fought anyone like him. He knew I was holding back… so he held back too."

Gari nodded. "Do you want to meet him again?"

Mumaru nodded. "The chuunin exams… I was going to wait one more year but… I was wondering if-"

"I'll allow it." Gari said with a smile. "After all It's very rare of you to ask anything of me."

Naruto winced grabbing his arm while Yamato had been yelling.

Yamato stopped and knelt down grabbing Naruto's arm, much to the blonde's shock. He hissed at Yamato as the jounin rolled up Naruto's sleeve on right arm. Yamato gave a gasp.

Naruto's whole arm was covered in burn like marks and there seemed to be steam rising from his skin in the cool night air. Yamato rolled up his other sleeve as well and found it to be the same.

"It wasn't him." Naruto said with a pout. "It's the sword… it's…" He turned his head as if ashamed. "It's rejecting my chakra."

Yamato looked at Naruto, seeing the blonde vulnerable for the first time.

"I don't know what to do… without a sword…" He clenched his fist. "This is all I have left of Takezo."

Yamato picked up Naruto, cradling him. "Come on Naruto… I'll take you to the room. We can talk about it there."

…

"So that new team," Chouji muttered while eating a bag of chips. "Has someone we know from it?"

"Yes." Kiba said with frustration at the chubby genin. Chouji was a chunky ninja with spiky brown hair parted to either side. His forehead protector was shaped like an underwear that a certain green beast of konoha would wear which kept his hair to either side. He wore a white scarf and dark green short sleeved shirt underneath it. He had swirls on his cheeks and as he chewed the swirls seemed to be moving up and down.

"Why do we care again?" Shikamaru muttered from his place. He was lying on top of a rock watching the clouds float by in the sky. He had a head shaped like a pineapple, his black hair tied into a short pony tail at the top. He was wearing a mesh net shirt and a beige jacket over it.

"Because," Kiba snarled. "It's that guy from back in the academy…"

"His name was Naruto." Shino finished for his teammate.

Chouji showed interest at this. "You mean…"

"That guy who always skipped class and pissed off Iruka-sensei? Who always played prank on the villagers and was known as basically the outcast of our year?" Ino cocked her head to the side. She was wearing a purple outfit with mesh underneath it. She had her long blonde hair tied into a pony tail. She was sitting on the rock where Shikamaru was lying on with her legs dangling. Chouji was leaning on the rocks eating his chips.

"Oh." Sakura muttered. She was sitting on the other rock along with Sasuke and their teammate, a boy called Kawasu Kurama. He had light brown hair that were swept to either side but spiky at the ends. He had the konoha forehead protector on his head and wore a kimono like outfit of black. He was sitting on the rock next to Sakura with a sleepy expression and even gave a yawn.

"I remember him." Sakura finished. "Sasuke-kun what about you?"

"This is a waste of time." Sasuke said under his breath.

"So what do you want us to do about it?" Shikamaru sat up and Chouji swallowed his chips. "This isn't some big problem Kiba… someone just came back from training."

"I was just letting you know." Kiba growled and sulked. He peered from the corner of his eyes and saw Hinata blushing.

"Now for the real reason why we're here," Ino got to the point. "It looks like Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei wanted to have a sparring session between out teams but they're not here yet…" She looked at Sasuke and smiled at him. "Why don't we just go on a date then?"

"There's no way he'd ever go on a date with you Ino!"

…..

AN: End. Did you like the chapter? REVIEW! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Also if you have any questions to ask don't hesitate! The Chuunin Exam arc is upon us….

ng.


	4. To Not Be A Burden

AN: here we go again. Can you guys like… review… please?... like seriously… please… review… I want to know what people think of this story.

…

_Naruto collapsed to the ground, sweat beading his entire body. He tried to move even a finger but found that he couldn't. His arms were so red and literally smoking even though the day itself was hot. He screamed as he felt another wave of pain travel up his arm from his hand. There were red welts beginning to form on his arm from the abused chakra lines. _

"_That's what happens," Yamato muttered equally tired. He had his hands on his knees to support himself. "When a chakra you send into your sword is sent right back up shooting up your arm. It's similar to if a blood flow is suddenly reversed."_

_Naruto screamed into the air, a primal sort of scream filled with nothing but rage. He attempted to move his arm to grab his sensei's sword that lay a few feet away from him. _

"_Naruto…" Yamato muttered when Naruto paused to breathe. "You promised." _

_The blonde in the middle of taking a breath froze, the world seeming to stop with him._

_They had returned to Konoha only a few days ago. Since then Yamato had begun to train them daily in grueling one on one sessions. They rotated each day, Sai, Naruto then Shiho. The ones who were being trained one on one always entered the forest. In Naruto's opinion Shiho had it the worst, coming out of the forest looking as if something had literally taken her in its jaws and chewed her. Sai was only a little better, coming out with minor wounds but still covered with sweat from top to bottom. _

_Then came Naruto's turn._

_The first words Yamato had said to Naruto when they had reached the training area left the blonde speechless._

"_Give me that sword Naruto."_

"_W-what?" Naruto thought that his teacher was kidding and he just smiled back. "Oh… are we going to train in something else today? Are you going to teach me what you taught Sai and Shiho?" _

"_No Naruto," Yamato held out a hand. "Give me the sword. That sword is too dangerous for you. I'm going to train you as a shinobi… but until we find a new way for you to use your __**Kenjutsu**__ (Sword Technique) without hurting yourself you won't be touching that sword."_

"_Now give it to me." Yamato narrowed his eyes. "Now!" _

_Naruto 's eyes which were wide with shock turned into something ugly. "Come here and fucking take it woodman. This is all I have left of my Father. You think I'm going to lie down and let you fucking take it without a fight?"_

"_Then if I beat you…" Yamato's face was shrouded in shadow. "You'll give it to me?"_

_Naruto snarled. "If you can that is… the word Genin is but just a word." He drew his sword. "I'll show you the Dances of Dragon, Sky and Shadow. I've been holding back until now… you'll be sorry for angering me."_

"_You're strong Naruto." Yamato looked up, his eyes deadly. "But not nearly as you think you are!" _

_Then they battled._

_Naruto collapsed to the ground, unable to take the pain from the chakra backlash._

_Yamato gasped for breath looking around the clearing._

_Every single tree within a thirty yard radius from Naruto had been cleanly sliced, making a ring around them. It wasn't just trees, everything that had been above four feet in height had been cut down as well. _

"_So this is your true power Naruto…" Yamato said as he regained his composure and began to walk over to the sword next to Naruto. He avoided the gigantic holes in the ground. The holes were about seven or eight feet in diameter and about fifteen feet deep. There were perfectly circular despite being engraved into the ground. There were large slashes on the ground as well, perfectly straight. _

_All these had been done by Naruto._

"_Dammit…" Naruto began to cry. He wanted to punch something but he couldn't even move his arm due to the pain. "Why… why… please… that's all I have left of my dad…" _

"_You can get a new sword." Yamato said coldly._

"_Please sensei… please…"_

"_Naruto!" Yamato snapped. "Look at your arm!" _

_Naruto paused looking at his arm as if seeing it for the first time. _

_Yamato gestured around them. "You're strong… way stronger than you have any right to be as a genin. But at too high a price. You've cut down every single tree in a thirty yard radius with one swipe of your sword. You've engraved the ground full of more holes and slashes than I've ever seen in one single battle. Each of those things done by a single swipe of your sword. But do you know how many times you paused because you couldn't take the pain Naruto? Yes your destructive power is great but… no. Not at this price." Steel entered Yamato's voice. "I won't let my student die… if you can get another sword that won't hurt you as much I'll allow you to use it. But not this sword until you are strong enough to use it without backlash." Yamato picked up the sword and left the blonde behind._

_He heard the blonde beginning to wail._

_When he felt as if he was far enough away from Naruto Yamato allowed himself to fall on a tree._

_Then he spat up blood._

"_Terrifying power…" He whispered. "My legs are still shaking… He didn't even use the Kyuubi's chakra at all. I could easily have lost a limb or two back there… or even my life." _

_He looked at the sword in his hand. "Naruto… I promise I'll return this to you. But for now it's hurting you too much. I'll give it to you as soon as you can handle it." _

…..

Naruto woke up breathing heavily.

"Dammit it's been a month… just how many times am I going to have that dream…"

He grimaced and clutched his heart, hissing as he felt a sharp pain travel up his arm. Though it wasn't so bad anymore, his arms were still heavily bandaged from the burns he had received. He looked at his arms and shook his head trying to rid himself of the hated memory. He thought of Yamato taking his sword and hated himself for it. He didn't hate Yamato at all. The man was looking out for Naruto, doing it for his own safety. However he did hate something. That something was his own weakness… his own inability to control the sword.

He knew it was something that couldn't be helped. The sword didn't recognize him because he wasn't the one that defeated his master. He also knew because his chakra was radically different from his masters, hence the strong side effects. His master's chakra had been calm and warm, something like a pool of water. But on the other hand, Naruto's chakra was violent, erratic and cold. It was more like a raging sea on the night of a storm.

He walked to his bathroom, splashing some cold water on his face and looking at himself in the mirror. The marks on his face looked more as if some wild animal had mauled him with their claws or fangs. He took a quick shower and walked out of the bathroom, surveying the apartment that the Sandaime had acquired for him.

There was a single room and a bathroom. There was a kitchen and a living room. For someone who had never really lived in a house of their own before it was comparable to a mansion. Naruto went into the kitchen and grabbed a carton of milk, downing it in one gulp before moving to his room to get dressed.

It had been about a week since Yamato had taken away his sword and as a result Naruto had been forced to change his outfit a little bit more fitting of a Shinobi. He wore a sleeveless black v-neck shirt with mesh underneath. He had black pants tied off at his shins with bandages. Unlike other shinobi, he had a kunai holster on both legs. He didn't bother grabbing the Tanto that Sai had given him awhile back. It was the first gift from a friend and he didn't want to destroy it.

There was a reason why Naruto didn't use another sword in place of Flower Shadow. That was because Samurai Swords were specially forged to withstand monstrous amounts of chakra. A Tanto would simply shatter as soon as Naruto used a single technique. He decided to keep it as a memento more than use it as a weapon. Sai told him that he didn't really understand but told him that he would try to. Naruto left his apartment, wrapping the forehead protector around his neck.

He walked through the streets of Konoha. There were vendors on either side. Some greeted him, some just ignored him. He doubted anyone knew he was that 'demon' from four years ago. Naruto walked past the Ichiraku Ramen Store, a store which he favored when he was still in Konoha. He had walked through the streets enough times now to know where things were. Currently he was headed to a designated meeting spot with Sai and Shiho. They would meet up and walk to the training spot together, trading small talk and latest tips on their training.

"Naruto!" Shiho waved her arms from where she sat. "Over here!"

Shiho looked a bit more like a Shinobi now. She had cropped her hair short to her head though she still kept the glasses with the swirls tinted on them. She had a beige v-neck shirt with short sleeves. Beneath it she had a mesh shirt. She wore black shorts and over a beige mini skirt. She had ditched the backpack long before and had a kunai holster on one thigh. Over her right arm she had tied her forehead protector.

Sai dressed the same.

"You're late." Sai commented. "As usual."

Naruto sighed and hung his head. "Sorry…"

Sai and Shiho looked at each other. Naruto simply wasn't the same since he had lost the sword. The first couple of days had been the worst. Naruto couldn't even walk straight at first. He had lost any semblance of confidence that he possessed before. During a sparring session with Shiho, he tripped over his own foot and Shiho, now having some semblance of chakra control, managed to sit on top of him and put a kunai to his neck. Sai, when he returned, heard it from Shiho who was boasting the entire time. Sai nicknamed Naruto as the new weakling of Team 13. Naruto didn't even bother to contest it.

"Hey Naruto… how did your training with Yamato-sensei yesterday go?" Shiho asked.

"He taught me a new ninjutsu." Naruto answered as the three began to walk towards their training ground together. "But I'm not sure if it'll be of any use…"

"A weakling," Sai commented once more. "Will always be a weakling no matter what type of ninjutsu he learns."

Naruto showed his teeth, growling at Sai. "Shut it will you?"

"I'm sorry." Sai said taking out a book titled 'How to make friends fast' and beginning to read it. "I read it in the book that friends tease each other…"

"What jutsu was it?" Shiho asked purely out of curiosity. She wondered what kind of jutsu Yamato could possibly teach to a samurai.

"It was called **Kagebunshin no Jutsu**." (Shadow Clone Technique) Naruto replied, putting a hand on each of the kunai holster on his leg. "I don't know guys… I've been just practicing Kunai and Shuriken throwing lately. Does it really help? I feel like it's always better to have a sword handy. These blades are just so small."

"Sounds like your dick." Sai whispered.

"Sai!" Shiho yelled, blushing red.

"Oops." Sai sighed. "Did I tell it wrong again? That was a joke Shiho-chan."

"It was the _type _of joke that you messed up stupid…" Naruto said while peering at Sai from the corner of his eyes.

"Oh I see." Sai put the book aside and took out another book titled 'Proper Jokes for the Female Kind' and opened it to a certain page. "Just give me a second…"

Naruto couldn't help but feel a smile tug at his lips as he watched Shiho looked on horrified at Sai's antics.

"Oh look! It's that team Kiba was talking about!" Ino pointed at the trio that was walking in front of them, looking out from behind a sign post.

"I get that," Shikamaru said in a bored tone. "But why did we have to hide?"

"It's the principle of the thing!" Ino yelled at her teammate. She looked at Naruto and Sai. _"Wow… they both look kind of cool…" _She turned towards Shikamaru and Chouji. "Come on! We're introducing outselves! Shikamaru look awake! Chouji put away your chips!"

"Hey you guys! Wait up for us!"

Naruto stopped looking behind them. He heard Shiho gasp in recognition but ignored it, looking at the newcomers.

"Hey we heard you guys are a new team." Ino said as she approached them "We thought we should introduce ourselves since we're all the same genin and all." She put her hands behind her back and straightened her back. "What are your names? Besides Shiho I mean."

"I'm Naruto." Naruto cocked his head to the side. "This is our teammate Sai."

"This is Shikamaru," Ino gestured at the lazy genin who had his arms folded behind his head. "This is Chouji." Then she straightened her back again, pushing out her chest. "I'm called Ino…" She blushed.

"Pineapple head," Sai pointed at Shikamaru then Chouji. "Fatass."

Chouji opened his mouth. "WHAT DID YOU-"

"Heh heh heh…." Ino laughed, a tick mark on her forehead, simultaneously blocking Chouji's mouth and holding him in a headlock. "Sorry… my teammate's a bit sensitive."

"Blonde Flirty Hag." Sai said with a smile pointing at Ino.

Naruto buried his face in his hands talking to Shiho. "I'm not taking responsibility for this..."

"Chouji," Ino released the fat genin. "Kill him."

Chouji threw a punch towards Sai. Sai easily dodged it, letting it sail by him harmlessly. He grabbed Chouji's arm and twisted it, appearing behind him and holding him in an arm lock.

Shikamaru frowned at this, moving his hands together to form hand seals.

Naruto's launched an overhead kick, the heel hitting Shikamaru's hand. He continued with the kick and brought Shikamaru's torso to the floor, stepping on the genin's hand. Shikamaru looked up at the smirking blonde.

"_Fast…" _

"Now now," Naruto said giving the genin a 'I don't know gesture,' "Your side attacked us first you know."

Ino looked at both of her teammates completely immobilized by Team 13. Shiho looked at Ino and gave an apologetic smile putting her hands together.

"Sorry," apologized Shiho. "My teammates are a bit… hot headed."

Naruto put his hand in front of face, palm out.

There was the sound of metal sinking in flesh.

All the genins watching gasped in shock.

"Aiming right for the eyes…" Naruto moved his hand away from his face, a kunai stabbed into his hand, the other end visible from the back of his hand. "What rude manners."

Naruto released Shikamaru who got to his feet hastily and stood next to Ino. Sai released Chouji as well who went to his teammates. They just stared at Naruto's hand which was dripping with blood, their mouths gaping open.

"Naruto!" Shiho rushed to Naruto's side who flicked his wrist with enough force to rip the kunai out. A spray of blood accompanied it as the piece of metal clanged on the floor. Sai narrowed his eyes at the ones who had thrown the kunai and made a motion to grab his tanto with his free hand.

Naruto shook his head.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree where he had been sitting in. He held a kunai in his hand, twirling it with a single finger through the loop on its handle. "That was aimed towards your forehead protector…"

"Oh was it?" Naruto was still smirking. "Sorry, I'm kind of new at this ninja thing."

"Sasuke-kun!" A pink haired girl ran from behind him, standing next to him. She looked at the scene eyes becoming wide at Naruto's wound.

"Hey… why are you guys walking so fast?" A boy with light brown hair walked in. He had round eyes and his hair was parted in the middle, the ends spiky and pointing slightly upwards. He yawned stifling it with a palm. "Wait up for me." Then he looked at the scene.

"Uh oh." He whispered. "Sasuke-kun… what have you done this time…"

Sasuke ignored his lazy teammate. "Your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." He lifted his hand up, the palm facing him. "Next time can you get my name _before _you try to kill me? Manners and what not…"

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke folded his arms.

"Didn't ask." Naruto said with a smile. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Kawasu, Sakura," He ordered. "Let's go." He turned on his heel leaving the two shinobi behind.

"I'm sorry! We'll make up for it later!" Sakura said as she turned around, chasing after Sasuke who was walking away rather briskly. "Wait up Sasuke-kun!"

"Always an adventure with those two." Kawasu sighed and folded his arms on the back of his head. He was wearing a long blue kimono. He smirked as he looked at Naruto. "A lot of people are out to get you Uzumaki Naruto. Not a lot of the genins like you. I'd be more careful about whose hands I step on next time."

"Well then we should be going too." Shikamaru muttered.

"Yeah." Ino shot a cold look at Team 13. "Let's go Shikamaru, Chouji." The three left not having much to say about what had happened.

"Naruto don't you need to bandage that?" Shiho said in a worried tone.

"I'm fine for now." He peered at Shiho.

Sai asked the question Naruto had wanted to. "Did we embarrass you in front of your friends Shiho-chan? My book says that-"

"What he means is that we're sorry." Naruto said with a laugh. Even Sai cracked a smile. "But you're teammates with us. What do you expect?"

Shiho sighed. "I guess I'll never be really popular since every other genin team hates us now."

"Girls value popularity." Sai said in a fake whisper to Naruto's ear.

"Oh shut up." Shiho growled. "Besides… I'm not alone anymore." She smiled at that.

Naruto looked at Sai while grinning.

For a second, for just a second he thought Sai's smile was genuine.

Naruto shook his head. "Come on we're late for training and if this gets any cheesier I'm going to hurl."

…

"Get up." Yamato ordered.

Shiho struggled to get up and fell down on her chest as her strength failed her.

Yamato, though at other times, was very mellow during training he turned into someone else. He didn't really endorse any type of weakness. Shiho wondered if he was this tough with Naruto and Sai. Sometimes she felt like Yamato was training her to be the ANBU. Thanks to his **Mokuton **(Wood Release) Chakra he was able to devise very interesting training strategies. Shiho for the first couple of days worked on basic strength. There was a training where wooden logs would explode out of the ground. At first Yamato had her dodging them but as the training progressed he would throw a round ball into the air. While dodging the wooden logs she had to ride on a couple of them to catch it. Then he started throwing dull kunais which gradually became sharper.

But all in all, Shiho was happy.

Shiho was getting stronger, visibly improving by leaps and bounds. Yamato had warned her that her chakra control and capacity wasn't the best and she would have to work ten times as hard to catch up to Naruto and Sai.

Shiho was willing to work even a hundred times harder.

She had been useless to her team. Being knocked out by Naruto in the fight against the Sound Ninja, being the only one to lose the spar against the iwagakure genin named Mumaru. Shiho didn't want to hide behind her teammates forever. She was going to become strong enough not only to protect herself but protect her teammates when they needed her too just like they did for her.

Gritting her teeth Shiho stood up.

Shiho formed hand seals and Yamato narrowed his eyes.

Shiho however had one talent.

Elemental Manipulation.

"**Katon: Ippo no Jutsu." **(Fire Release: One Step Technique)

Shiho's feet lit into flames.

"_I can't keep the jutsu going for long… I just need to hit him once that's it." _Shiho knelt down, her hands on the ground and her feet looking as if she was about to launch off running.

Yamato formed a hand seal and half of his body turned into wood and it split off from him, becoming a whole new Yamato. **"Mokuton: Bunshin no Jutsu." **(Wood Release: Clone Technique)

Shiho exploded off of the ground.

Literally.

The fire on her feet weren't for offensive purposes. She didn't exactly use her feet to kick since she wasn't adept enough at Taijutsu for that yet. Instead she used the fire to enhance her speed, like just now. The fire at her feet exploded and by timing it just right she was able to gain a tremendous increase in speed. Sai and Naruto couldn't even touch her when she used this technique. But it didn't take too long for them to figure out a counter. Since Shiho used an explosion to get an increase in speed, she couldn't switch direction in the middle. She didn't possess the necessary body control and chakra control to pull off the technique once more while going in the straight line. This technique would never allow her to have complete control of directions but Yamato had told her that as she got better at it she'd be able to travel in straight lines in all directions. Definitely in waves but in pure zigzags it would be a formidable weapon.

The Bunshin blocked. Shiho had covered the distance between them in less than a second, seeming to almost teleport. The technique was similar to **Shunshin **(Body Flicker) but its offensive capabilities far surpassed the technique that was made for simple movement. The bunshin took out a kunai and blocked Shiho's kunai in reply only for Shiho to puff into smoke.

"Got you." Shiho whispered as she appeared behind herself. Yamato had seen the rapid change of hand seals as she charged towards his own clone but his clone had been blinded by the speed and had only seen a fast blur move towards him. While charging his clone Shiho had formed hand seals sending a clone of herself in her place. The real Shiho performed her fire technique again and punched the clone in the stomach. Then her feet exploded once again. The strength from the jutsu actually allowed Shiho to lift Yamato off of the ground and into the air.

The real Yamato looked at the ground. There were footsteps in the ground outlined in faint flames. He looked at the two craters in the ground where Shiho had exploded off of the ground.

"_She's getting stronger, though she's nowhere near Naruto or Sai's level. If nothing else she'll be able to hold her own when those two are in a pinch." _He looked at the air with a smile. _"You're not a burden anymore Shiho… training day and night paid off." _

Shiho moved her body in midair, moving herself to behind the Bunshi. She placed both feet on the bunshin while forming handseals.

That was the weakness of the technique. The technique was named aptly, One Step. After one explosion she had to perform the jutsu once more if she wanted another explosion. She usually covered this weakness by using a clone or simply relying on the speed of her technique.

Her feet exploded.

The bunshin crashed into the ground turning back into wood while Shiho was sent further into the air. Yamato watched not worried at all as he turned around and began to leave. "That's it for today. Good job."

Shiho landed on the ground breathing heavily. "F-finally…" She whispered. _"But that one was a lot weaker than the other ones… it didn't even bother to move out of the way…" _She winced in pain in her legs. Her jutsu came at a price similar to Naruto's sword technique. Her legs and chakra points in her feet couldn't handle the pressure yet. Yamato assured her that she will get used to it with time.

"_So three times the limit…" _Shiho thought with a grim expression. She looked at Yamato walking away with not a single wound.

Shiho jogged a little to catch up with her teacher. "Sensei wait up!"

….

Naruto panted, his feet to either side of him and one hand on the floor. The other clutched two shuriken. Naruto had a scroll on his mouth. He was glaring at Sai who stood a little bit away from him. Sai had his tanto out. His other hand was inching towards his holster where his paint brush and paper was contained.

Sai threw his Tanto towards the blonde, sending it whirling end over end. Naruto threw his shuriken which bounced off of the Tanto. Sai sat down and already started to draw on his paper scroll.

"_Shit." _Thought Naruto. He ducked underneath the tanto sending it sailing by him harmlessly. He leapt backwards and took out three shuriken in both hands sending them flying towards Sai. He formed hand seals with one hand while the other one reached into his holster to grab more shuriken.

"_Hand seals with one hand." _Sai nodded grimly. Naruto usually didn't use two hands for those types of techniques. Something about Samurai training.

"**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Justu." **(Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique) Naruto muffled through the scroll in his mouth. The shuriken that he threw began to multiply the six that he originally threw becoming dozens. They hummed through the air flying towards Sai.

"**Ninpo: Choju Giga." **(Ninja Arts: Super Beast Imitation Drawing) Sai sent a herd of lions running towards Naruto. The swarm of shuriken hit the lions and dropped to the ground, covered in black ink. Sai soared into the air on top of a large bird that he had summoned along with the lions. Sai began to draw on his pallet once more sending herds of lions flying towards Naruto from the sky.

Naruto formed a hand seal. **"Kagebunshin no Jutsu." **(Shadow Clone Technique) A puff of smoke appeared on either side of him revealing two perfect copies of Naruto. The blonde grabbed their hands. **"Henge no Jutsu." **(Transformation Technique) The two blonde copies turned into shuriken, a large ring in the center and three flat blades pointing outwards. Unlike other shuriken these had completely flat blades. The shuriken was a lot larger than normal ones each blade being about four feet long.

Sai narrowed his eyes. _"When did he-" _

Naruto threw the blades one after the other forming hand seals once more. **"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **He yelled. These shuriken multiplied into the dozens once more. However instead hitting the ink lions and falling towards the ground these held enough mass to cleave right through the swarm heading straight for Sai. The bird that Sai was riding on began to weave through the air dodging everything.

Naruto formed hand seals once more. **"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." **He whispered and the swarm of giant shuriken doubled in size once more, filling the air with a humming sound. Before there were gaps due to the lions changing their course slightly but now the sky was filled with shuriken, blacking out the sky for Naruto and hiding Naruto from Sai's view.

Sai cursed and leaped off of the bird as it was ripped apart by half a dozen shuriken. Taking out a kunai Sai blocked each shuriken that were threatening to cut him in half. Dodging the last shuriken by flipping he landed on the ground on both feet his kunai held in a reverse grip.

"**Suiton," **(Water Release) Sai gasped as he heard Naruto's voice from behind him. **"Katana." **Sai turned around to see the scroll in Naruto's mouth partially open with a large circular seal on it. From the seal came out a spout of water which suddenly coalesced into a handle of a sword. As if drawing it from a scabbard Naruto pulled his sword out of the scroll. The sword was transparent, clearly made of water yet when Naruto flicked it to the side not even a droplet fell from it.

Sai tensed his legs.

He knew from experience that Naruto had two types of sword techniques. The first was Dance of Dragons. This dance had techniques that involved a lot of chakra and were rather slow but powerfully destructive. Then there was the dance of sky which involved techniques that weren't as powerful, but just as lethal. The difference was that the Dance of Sky was instantaneous. While Dance of Sky had to do with cutting down only one person, the Dance of Dragons could be used to hit a whole area. The Dance of Dragon could be dodged but not blocked. The Dance of Sky could not be dodged but it could be blocked.

Sai narrowed his eyes.

"It's over." Naruto smirked, the sword of water at his side.

"Why's that?" Sai whispered.

Naruto nodded upwards.

Sai's eyes widened.

The rain of shuriken that Naruto had thrown into the air earlier all crashed towards the ground at once, stabbing themselves into whatever they touched. Sai danced through the rain of blades, dodging everything then stopped when he felt something cold press against the back of his neck.

Naruto stood behind Sai, holding his sword in a reverse grip the blade part of the sword made of water on Sai's neck.

"Checkmate." Naruto whispered.

Then Sai exploded into ink.

Naruto snarled as all of his shuriken exploded into smoke. He felt a kunai press against his neck.

"When I blocked your vision with the shuriken?" Naruto asked, releasing the water technique and letting the sword drip back into water and turn into nothingness. He grabbed the scroll from his mouth and put it back into his holster. "Man… I'm running out of techniques to use. Maybe I should ask Yamato-sensei to teach me some new moves."

"I have a question Naruto." Sai and Naruto sat down on a rock both of them pausing for breath.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

"Why don't you just have your Shadow Clones transform into a sword or form those swords of water from the beginning?"

"It's different." Naruto sighed. "The swords made of shadow clone aren't really the same as the sword because they can't handle the chakra that I push into them. They just disappear as soon as I start the technique. Same with the water sword. The best I could do it fight with them without using any of the dances."

"So you can't use the dances with the water sword?" Sai smiled. "So I got scared for nothing."

"I'm trying to figure out a way to make them sturdier but it's not working out so well." Naruto sighed.

"We're back." Shihon said as she and Yamato walked out into the clearing.

Yamato glanced at the training ground. There was ink everywhere and stabs in the ground from some type of large blade though they were all gone. He sighed and knelt down using his chakra to fill the earth again and remake the plants.

"We have a mission today." Yamato stood up finished repairing the training ground. Shiho went over to sit on the rock with her teammates. Yamato glanced at his team. They were growing at a faster pace every single day. Shiho was no longer the burden of the team that she was. Yamato knew for a fact that Shiho trained ten times harder than anyone else. Sai, already someone who had enough talents to enter the ROOT training division, was growing stronger and smarter each day as well. Naruto picked up ninja techniques with ease, his previous samurai training being applied with ruthless efficiency.

They were ready

"_But first…" _

"All three of you have separate missions." Yamato looked at each of them in turn. "Don't fail this. This mission is designed to not only test your strength but to see if you have what it takes to enter the Chuunin exams."

"Do other teams have to do this?" asked Naruto.

"No." Yamato shook his head. "But due to the nature of our team… we have to be tested apparently." He smirked. "I know you won't let me down."

"Isn't it enough that we have your word?" Shiho looked worried.

"Don't worry about it. I know that you guys will complete the mission with flying colors." He threw a scroll to each of his students. "Now go! Meet back here in an hour."

The three vanished.

….

The scroll took Shiho to the outskirts of the village. She looked at the scroll in her hands making sure that she was at the right place. She was at a mountainous place. The girl was forced to to grueling walk up a steep hill to get here. There were large rocks all around them and some greenery but the trees were yards away, too far to be of any use. She leaned on a rock and placed the scroll inside her pouch, looking over the cliff at the village below.

"_It looks so peaceful." _She gulped and looked at her hands, callused and wounded with the amount of training that she did. Shiho closed her eyes remembering Yamato's words.

"_The Chuunin Exam." _Even thinking about it sent an involuntary shiver throughout Shiho's body. She'd never seen real combat before. The closest to combat she had ever been in was that spar in the temple, then her spars with Naruto and Sai. She didn't really count those as real combat since the chances of her dying were almost slim to none. She didn't even count Yamato among them since she knew he wouldn't let her die. But the chuunin exams… she had heard stories of half the entrance examinees dying. The chances of her being alive was less than half.

Sure she had rapidly improved but had she improved to the point of being able to compete with chuunin?

Her fighting style was an explosive one, no pun intended. She could use her technique in succession exactly three times. After that she was reduced to little more than a normal shinobi who could barely get off a bunshin no jutsu. She would be forced to fight with kunai and shuriken, barely having enough chakra to stick to a tree. That was the weakness of her fighting style, there was no such thing as second wind. If she misused her jutsu even once, she was done.

Shiho sighed.

"You seem worried."

Shiho quickly turned around, a kunai in her hand when someone grabbed her wrist. She looked up to see a bearded man with a cigar in the corner of his mouth. He had spiky black hair and the chuunin vest over his dark blue ninja outfit. The forehead protector read konoha so Shiho relaxed in his grip expecting him to let go.

He didn't.

He lunged forward and placed a kunai on Shiho's neck.

"If I was your enemy who had stolen your comrade's clothing," He whispered. "You'd be dead by now."

Then he released her.

Shiho leaped away holding the kunai in her hand in a reverse grip. It was dripping with blood. Asuma flicked the hand that had been holding her wrist. She had twisted her hand at the last second and left a shallow, but long, cut on his forearm. He looked at her with an amused expression.

"If you were an enemy," Shiho muttered. "You'd have lost an arm along with my life."

Asuma narrowed his eyes. _"I remember this girl… she was as timid as a mouse. Yamato… just how did you train her?" _He looked at the sky remembering his father telling him that he had a special mission. Yamato was a jounin but he was still ANBU. Yamato knew how to measure strength but because he was so strong he might look down on the Chuunin Exam. That's how casualties happened. Teachers overestimated their students and underestimated the Chuunin exam. That was why they had to do this.

Asuma took out his trench knife. "This is your mission." He spat out his cigarette and stomped on it. "Survive."

…

Nauto's situation was a bit different.

A man named Kakashi was standing in front of him. He had spiky white hair and a forehead protector that covered one eye. He had a book in one hand and his other hand was in his pockets. He wasn't even looking at Naruto who had arrived to see him. Naruto simply sat down on the rock opposite of Kakashi's and waited glancing at Kakashi and the other newcomer.

The Sandaime was sitting on the rock as well.

And in Sandaime's lap lay a sword.

It looked a lot like Hanakage. It was a katana but it wasn't curved. It was still in its scabbard, perfectly rectangular with rounded edges. The guard, unlike Flower Shadow, looked like three bladed shuriken. Naruto immediately recognized the sword for being one of Samurai origins. But he didn't know where in hell the Sandaime could had got it from.

"You're agitated." Kakashi muttered.

Naruto snapped his attention to Kakashi from the sword. "That sword… is it?..."

"The Land of Iron sent it to us Naruto." The Sandaime said looking at the blonde boy. "It's yours."

Naruto nodded. "But you're not going to give it to me."

"I will… after this battle that is." Hiruzen nodded at Kakashi. "I want to see how much you've grown in shinobi skills. If I'm to send you on missions… you'll require a certain delicacy that samurai techniques lack. Especially if you were Musashi's pupil." He smiled at Naruto. "I believe in you though Naruto."

Naruto spat on the ground standing up. "Let's start then."

Kakashi stood up as well but didn't bother taking his eyes off of the book.

"Ready when you are."

Kakashi bent backwards dodging the barrage of shuriken that Naruto had thrown at him. He stood back up looking at Naruto with a bored gleam. However once he got a look at Naruto his eye widened in surprise.

Naruto stood right in front of him, a few puffs of smoke indicating that some jutsu had happened. He held a scroll in his mouth and a three bladed shuriken of gigantic proportions in each hand. The boy's cerulean eyes had a certain crazed look in them that made Kakashi put away the book. He gulped and stopped himself from reaching to raise his Forehead Protector and use the Sharingan.

"Hey old man," Naruto brought his arms together, crossing the blades of the shuriken. "What if I kill him?"

Sarutobi laughed. "Try your best Naruto."

"Next time," Naruto muttered through the scroll in his mouth. "I won't miss."

Kakashi nodded narrowing his eyes.

…

Sai landed in front of a chair, kneeling with one hand on his knee and the other a fist on the ground. They were in a dark room lit by a single lightbulb on the ceiling. ROOT usually met in rooms like these, dark, smelly and musty. Sai didn't particularly enjoy these meetings but he knew it was a necessary precaution when dealing with top secret matters. The boy bowed his head until he saw from the corner of his eye the gesture to rise. Sai stood getting a look at his master.

Danzo was a frail old man with a cane at his side. Currently he sat in a rickety old wooden chair. He had black shaggy hair with bandages covering his right eye. He had a X-shaped scar on his chin amplifying his square jaw. He wore a white shirt with a dark grey robe over it which came down to his feet. His right arm was underneath the robe close against his chest as if it was in a cast.

Sai smiled.

"Sai," Danzo's eye seemed nearly closed but Sai knew for a fact that nothing escaped the old man's attention. "Report."

Sai bowed once more before standing up straight. "The Uzumaki Boy is powerful. I have no yet been able to witness his full power but I saw the aftermaths once." He had surveyed the scene after Naruto and Yamato had their bout over Naruto's sword.

It had terrified him that such a young boy could do so much damage.

"He does not care much for Konoha. However he is very loyal to the idea of friendship and comrades. He despises those who pick on those weaker than themselves and is not above breaking the rules to do what he thinks is right."

"So he's a complete failure as a ninja." Danzo whispered, stroking his chin.

"That's not-" Sai began.

Danzo looked at him.

Sai hung his head, sweat beginning to bead all over his body.

Satisfied Danzo nodded. "I'm beginning to think that you are getting attached to your team and is forgetting the true purpose of why you were placed on that team." He tilted his head to the side. "Are you?"

"Observing the Uzumaki boy." Sai tasted something bitter.

Danzo nodded. "There's an additional mission this time." He continued watching Sai closely. "During the Chuunin Exams there is a rumor that Orochimaru will attempt to get his hands on the Uchiha boy."

Sai nodded giving nothing away.

Unseen to Sai, Danzo relaxed. "Keep that from happening."

"But that means I'll have to be separated from my team." Sai protested. "If that happens we might-"

"There is no such thing as we!" Danzo snarled.

Sai straightened once more stiffening.

"You are a ROOT member Sai! Nothing else! There exists no bonds! No Teammates! Above all you do not feel pity for your teammates or any sense of loyalty towards them! Do you know why?" Danzo stood up and put a hand on the young boy's shoulder and bent down to meet him eye to eye. "You. Have. No. Emotions."

Sai felt something crumble inside of him.

He kneeled in front of Danzo. "As you say… Danzo-sama. My loyalty is to the village… nothing else. There is no sense of self or sense of emotions. There exists only the mission."

Danzo nodded satisfied and turned around. "Dismissed."

"Yes… Danzo-sama."

….

Shiho ducked underneath Asuma's trench knife as it threatened to cut off her head. Asuma launched out with a knee and caught Shiho in the stomach sending her flying backwards. To the girl's credit she somersaulted with one hand, throwing a few kunai with the other and landing on both feet. She took out one kunai, holding it in a reverse grip and blocked a few kunai Asuma had thrown towards her. Shiho was breathing heavily although Asuma had nothing to show for the few exchanges that they had.

Shiho had a long gash on her arm though it wasn't deep. She kept the kunai in her hand looking at Asuma with death in her eyes. She seemed frustrated beyond reason. Asuma sighed. The frustration meant that the girl had tried everything she could. She had used **Kawamari **(Substitution) once and a bunshin technique once each. She had run up a rock's vertical surface once but now she looked tired. Asuma predicted that it wouldn't be too long until she passed out from Chakra Exhaustion.

"_Almost there… just a little more." _Shiho was beginning to near physical exhaustion.

But her chakra reserves were almost exactly perfect for exactly three techniques.

Asuma sighed and looked at the sky. _"Yamato… what are you thinking sending this girl to the Chuunin Exams… she has little to no chakra and only average control. The only thing she's decent at is taijutsu but even then she's a little below average. She's only good at escaping. I applaud you for taking someone like her to this level but the chuunin exams? She'll be eaten alive."_

Shiho began to gather chakra for the necessary techniques while Asuma was staring off into the sky. She remembered what Yamato had told her.

…..

_It was while they had been returning from the temple. Naruto and Sai were sleeping in the room upstairs. Shiho couldn't sleep so she came downstairs to find Yamato quietly looking through the window while sitting in a chair. She looked at her sensei glad that someone like him who had patience and understanding was their teacher. Any other teacher would have punished Naruto for acting the way he did. But the blonde got off lightly with a little berating. _

"_Come here Shiho." Yamato said in an almost bored tone._

_Shiho startled, surprised by the voice breaking the silence._

"_I want to talk to you." _

_Shiho nodded and approached Yamato. As she did a chair came out of the floor for her to sit on. She sat down._

"_You're weak." He said flatly._

_Shiho's eyes widened._

"_Naruto knocked you out when you guys were fighting with the Oto Shinobi didn't he?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Naruto and Sai, even by jounin standards, by all rights are geniuses. By now you are probably asking yourself what you're doing on a team with those monsters." _

_Shiho gulped._

"_What a talentless girl like you is doing on a special team like this one…" Yamato smiled sadly._

_Shiho was on the verge of tears._

_Yamato was completely right. She had asked those questions throughout the day hundreds of times. She looked at Naruto and Sai who displayed more and more strength as they got to know each other better. She had not yet seen them bested or even tired yet. They seemed to have a bottomless pool of strength. They also had this air of confidence that brimmed with power. Just by being near them she felt safe._

_But when she was by herself she was overcome with fear._

_That she couldn't protect herself. She was afraid when facing that Iwagakure genin despite it being a spar and surrounded by her teammates. She was afraid to show weakness in front of her team, afraid to lose and pour muck over her team's strength. Shiho hated her weakness hated the fact that she had to chase after them, hated the fact that she had no talent and above all, hated herself for bringing them down._

"_All teams have a specialty." Yamato looked at Shiho and began to count them off. "Team 8 is a team specializing in Tracking and Espionage. Team 7 is known for frontline combat. Team 10 is known for the Ino-Shika-Chou combination which specializes in disruption of enemy forces." He smiled at Shiho. "Guess what our specialty is?"_

_Yamato didn't give her a chance to answer. "Assassination."_

_Shiho's eyes widened._

"_It took awhile for it to come to me." Yamato explained. "Your knowledge of seals could break open any defense seal rendering it useless. With Naruto's strength combat and the actual deed should not be a problem. Sai's techniques are perfect for stalling for time or for getting away from the site of murder." He tilted his head and looked at her in the eye. "Don't you think it's perfect?"_

"_So Shiho, don't worry too much." He got up leaving the girl in the seat. "You have a place on this team. As soon as we get back you'll be the one I concentrate on the most. Don't worry… if nothing I'll make sure you're not a burden."_

_Shiho looked down at her hands clenched on top of her thighs. "I have a place on this team…" She whispered._

"_And don't forget," Yamato said as he walked up the stairs. "Your greatest weakness is your greatest strength." _

…..

Shiho gripped the kunai tighter. _"My weakness is my greatest strength." _

Asuma sighed. "Let's start wrapping this up." He turned to the side as the kunai sailed by him harmlessly. "I appreciate the effort-" He stopped talking as Shiho finished forming her hand seal. He let her wondering what type of jutsu the girl had up her sleeve next.

"**Doton: Ippon." **(Earth Release: One Step) Shiho whispered and stomped the ground.

"_Just how strong a jutsu could that girl-" _

The ground that Asuma was standing on exploded and the jounin opened his mouth in shock. He unconsciously poured chakra into his feet to stick to the almost vertical surface. When Shiho had stomped on the ground the stomp carved out of the ground, the very rock tilting towards her and lifting up Asuma's foot like a gigantic Seesaw. It wasn't the fact that she used this jutsu that amazed Asuma but the sheer scale of the jutsu. He'd expect the jutsu to be this strong only if it was used by a chuunin but the fact that a girl who was helpless before him had used it shocked him to his core.

As a result he didn't even register that Shiho had completed another chain of hand seals.

"**Katon: Ippon." **The ground that Shiho was on exploded and when Asuma blinked the girl was in front of him.

He blinked again. _"What the hell is happening-"_

"_This is the last time I can use it." _Shiho used the momentum to strike Asuma in the stomach with an uppercut, filling it up with chakra and sending him sailing into the air.

Asuma looked at the rock that was almost standing up now and Shiho that stuck to it. Shiho leaped off of the rock and Asuma registered somewhere in the back of his mind that she had placed both feet on his back.

"_There's no way… a girl that was so weak before…"_

"Your underestimation of me," Shiho whispered as she formed hand seals. "was your undoing! **Katon: Ippon!" **

Her feet exploded into flames once more. Asuma felt intense heat and pressure at his back and before he knew it the ground was in front of him.

Shiho watched as Asuma slammed into the ground causing cracks to form around the area and rocks to rise up from the impact of the blow. She landed a few feet away wincing in pain at the impact that her legs got. She watched as the dust cleared revealing Asuma.

Asuma lay on a rock his body limp. There was a little bit of drool made of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth. His eyes were unfocused but Shiho felt that approaching him would be dangerous.

"_She purposefully showed only her weak sides to me… she pretended to have no chakra left. Then she poured all she had into that first jutsu to shock me. She knew that I'd watch her do the first justu… then she unbalanced me and while I was still in shock sent me into midair where I'd be helpless, unable to dodge. Then she got my back and used her strongest jutsu to land the decisive blow… if I was a genin I might be dead by now…" _Asuma smirked freaking out the girl. _"Good thing I'm not."_

Asuma got up and dusted himself. Shiho's eyes widened as Asuma seemed to be almost completely unhurt despite the blood on his lips.

"You pass." He said with a smile. "You actually passed as soon as you punched me in the stomach but I guess you were frustrated eh?" His smile got wider. "Or was that acting too?"

"This isn't acting." Shiho collapsed to the ground face first barely conscious. "That was all I had…"

Asuma sighed and thought of his students. _"They have their work cut out for them if they want to beat this team…" _

…..

Naruto swung the shuriken in front of him, crossing his arms. Kakashi leaped backwards skidding on the ground. The blonde swung his arm back then threw the shuriken towards the copy cat ninja with all he had. However instead of throwing them sideways he sent the shuriken so that they flew vertically. Kakashi prepared to dodge when he saw Naruto forming hand seals.

"**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." **Naruto's voice came out muffled through the scroll.

Kakashi's eye widened. _"He's going to use that technique on a shuriken of that size? Hot many is he going to make? Two? Four?"_

Kakashi was wrong.

Dozens and dozens of shuriken came into existence, filling the air with the humming of the air being cut by the blades. Kakashi had no chance to dodge but to move underground. He prepared to use his jutsu.

The first shuriken to pass by him exploded into smoke turning into the blonde. Kakashi realized a split second late as the blonde grabbed his hands from behind keeping him from forming hand seals. Kakashi panicked for a second, his hands disabled and the shuriken coming from the front. The jounin spun and dodged the swarm of shuriken weaving in between them and dodging every single one. When he had done so the shadow clone on his back disappeared into smoke.

Kakashi stopped and caught a regular shuriken that Naruto had thrown towards his forehead. He looked at the shuriken noticing that there was blood on it.

Naruto's thumb was bleeding. The scroll in his mouth opened up a bit showing two circle seals on one page. With a smirk Naruto swiped his finger horizontally over both of them. There was a puff of smoke on either side of Naruto.

On Naruto's right and left was a barrel full of almost fifty swords.

Naruto kicked the bottom of the barrel, sending it into the air. The swords fell out and all of them stabbed into the ground around the blonde who took the scroll out of his mouth and put it back in his holster. He smiled at Kakashi who looked shocked if anything.

"_This kid is just full of surprises…" _

Naruto picked up a sword in each hand. "There are exactly hundred swords." Naruto muttered.

Then he swung both swords in front of him.

"**Ryu no Mai: Tsuin Ryu." **(Dance of Dragon: Twin Dragons) Naruto whispered.

From each of the swords came out a dragon made purely of chakra. They were blue in color though they were reddish at the edges. Their jaws, while open, had to reach at least ten feet in height. The dragons roared at Kakashi as they rushed towards him, intertwining around each other and making grooves in the ground when they touched it.

Kakashi lifted up his forehead protector revealing his doujutsu.

Kakashi jumped upwards letting the dragons pass by him underneath. The dragons crashed into a rock sending it flying all over the place in splinters. Kakashi watched from above.

"_That destructive power is no joke…" _

The two swords in Naruto's hands cracked then broke into shards of metal.

He tossed them behind him, wincing at the pain in his arm. _"Damn it… since the swords can't handle my chakra it's coursing back up my arm." _

Naruto grabbed a sword in both arms again and pointed one towards Kakashi who was in mid air.

"**Ryu no Mai: Shou Ryu Sen." **(Dance of Dragon: Rising Dragon Flash) The sword instantly shot out a transparent image of a dragon, way bigger than the ones that he had shot towards Kakashi before. This dragon didn't even roar or head towards Kakashi. The dragon had appeared instantly and Kakashi was already within the swirling vortex of chakra. The dragon's jaws looked as if it could swallow two whole houses at once. The Sandaime watched as Kakashi crossed his arms in front of him only as his clothing became ripped to tatters. Tiny little cuts appeared on Kakashi's body.

The sword in Naruto's hand exploded into splinters.

Naruto winced as another wave of pain shot up his arm.

Then he stabbed the other sword into the ground. **"Ryu no Mai: Kuro Ryu Syouten." **(Dance of Dragon: Black Dragon Ascension) A black dragon exploded out of the ground, sending rocks scattering around the clearing. The dragon roared once while heading towards Kakashi, made completely of black chakra. It seized Kakashi's torso in its jaws before snapping shut.

Only for Kakashi to turn into a pile of splinters.

Naruto felt something cold touch the back of his neck.

He reacted with bestial instinct spinning around and picking up another sword and slashing the air in front of him. Kakashi pulled his hips back barely dodging the strike.

"_Fast… usually people freeze when steel touches them. He reacted instantly… even if this was a real battle I wouldn't have been able to get a position on him." _Kakashi's sharingan began to spin faster as Naruto picked up another sword and began to slash in front of him. Kakashi leaped away out of Naruto's reach when the blonde did something strange.

He twirled the sword in his hand in forming a perfect circle.

Kakashi's senses went into hyper drive and he leaped away as far as he could.

He looked back hearing the sound of something being pressed towards another.

The rock that had been behind him had a perfect circle in it. The hole's radius was the exact length of the sword's blade which crumbled as Naruto tossed it behind him.

Kakashi stared at the hole in the rock his eyes wide. _"What the fuck… Yamato… what have you been feeding this kid?"_

"**Sora no Mai: Mangetsu." **(Dance of Sky: Full Moon) Naruto whispered then he grabbed another sword and put it at the left side of his waist. "This time I'll show you more than just the Moon… I'll show you the Sun."

Pain shot up his arm like never before.

Naruto bit back a scream, snarling instead and dropping the sword. He moved his arm to grab the next sword and found that waves of pain pulsed from his hand to shoulder, making it painful to grip even the handle.

"That's enough Naruto." Kakashi muttered pulling the forehead protector back down to cover his eye. "I see the chakra backlashes in your arm. Let's stop this right here." He looked at Sarutobi.

The Sandaime nodded. "I've seen enough."

Naruto winced. "This wouldn't happen…' He said with flat eyes. "If I had a proper sword."

The Sandaime smirked and grabbed the sword by the scabbard.

Then he threw it towards Naruto.

The blonde caught it between his knee and feet, balancing it and then lifting it up into the air and grabbing it. To his surprise he found a small letter attached to the handle. He grabbed the sword under his armpit and opened the letter.

There was a flash of light.

"What the hell-" Naruto began then he felt the sword in his armpit disappear and a strange tinglr sensation on his left palm. He tried to shield himself from the light but it had blinded him nonetheless. He rubbed his eyes and opened his left palm to see what had happened.

There was a circular seal on his palm, the kanji **Kai **(Release) on it.

He looked at it with disgust then at the letter.

_Dear Naruto-kun._

_This is Mifune. It has been long since we last spoke. By now I suspect that you should be feeling the aftereffects of using Hanakage, the Flower Shadow. If you continue to use it I fear that you will lose your arms. I have sent you a sword, forged with remnants of your chakra mixed in. However I have placed a special technique into the letter that will seal the sword in your left palm. Until you have figured out the true reason for why I did this, the sword will not appear._

_With Love,_

_Mifune._

_P.S: Please send me a shipment of Konoha Sake. It's really cold here. Is it nice and warm in Konoha? Here it's always snow and ice as you know. I heard that the Sun rises everyday in Konoha. Is that true? Just send me the damned shipment of Konoha sake._

Naruto sweat dropped at the last part of the letter then at his left hand. Then he looked at Kakashi and the Sandaime both of whom were smiling.

"You guys are enjoying this aren't you?"

AN: Chapter end! Did you like this chapter? I know I said chuunin exams but I needed to handicap Naruto a little. Sorry about that. Do you like his fighting style with the scroll? It won't happen for too long but enjoy it while it lasts!

So please… review… please review… even just 'great' story is fine. I just need assurance that people are reading this.


	5. Various Thoughts

AN: Let's go! REVIEW! I have so many notifications about people following this story and favoriting it but it doesn't add up to the reviews… why do I have a feeling like people read the story and then go like 'cheh because you asked me to review I'm not going to review.' -.-

Just… just write me the damned reviews. It'll make me happier.

…

Naruto stared at the circular seal on his left palm. He was walking down the streets of Konoha without a real destination. He didn't know how many people recognized him as the 'demon boy' but that was not really what he was concerned about. This was the day before the chuunin exams and Naruto was trying to figure out a way to pull out the sword that was contained in his left palm. He had met enough genins by now to know that his feeble knowledge of two jutsus wasn't going to cut it. Eventually he would meet people that he'd need a real sword against without fear of getting backlash in his arms.

The blonde entered a restaurant feeling a emptiness in his stomach. _"Maybe I'll stop by for a bite or two." _He entered the restaurant seeing two faces that he had been familiar with.

Ino pushed Sakura down behind the seat cover while the latter had been in the middle of talking. Across them sat a boy with light brown hair that was parted down the middle and spiked slightly upwards at the sides. He wore a blue kimono with white lining. He was in the middle of taking a bite with his dumpling when a smile came across his face.

"What do you think you're trying to do!" Sakura yelled at the blonde who had pushed her down.

"It's that guy!" Ino tried to peek out from behind the chair, hiding her face when Naruto looked her way. "Remember that guy! The blonde one with the sword!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh you mean Naruto?"

Kawasu sighed and popped the dumpling in his mouth. _"Uzumaki Naruto… you're strong aren't you… maybe you're just the type of entertainment I've been looking for." _He waved a hand at the blonde.

Naruto noticed. _"That genin from that pink haired girls' team… why are they sitting there together…" _He ignored it waiting for the waiter to seat him.

"What do you think you're doing!" Ino whispered furiously.

"I like him." Kawasu answered as if it was no big deal. "He's a lot more fun than a lot of the other genins." He tilted his head and shot a smile at Ino. "Is that a problem, Ino-chan?"

Ino blushed. She was here because she asked Sakura to introduce her to the good looking teammate of hers. Kawasu and Sasuke were the good looking ones of the graduating class, more so than other ones. Ino had been initially jealous that Sakura had landed not only one but both of the lookers of their class. However once it was clear that Sakura had eyes for only Sasuke she decided to go for the other one. They were currently at a meeting to have lunch and Sakura was there to just help them talk. It was a devious strategy used by the female kind to make it look like an accident when it actually wasn't.

As a result Ino blushed at Kawasu's smile and nodded. "Um… if you say so. But what if he acts up again…"

"Don't worry Ino-chan." Kawasu kept the smile on his face. "I won't let him hurt you."

Ino nodded her blush getting redder. Sakura sighed burying her face in her hands.

"Hey!" Kawasu yelled.

Naruto ignored it.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Kawasu yelled even getting up out of his seat and waving his arms.

Naruto got a tick mark on his forehead. The waiter approached him.

"It looks as if they're calling you… are you with them sir?"

"No." Naruto said swiftly. "Don't know them."

Kawasu got up out of his chair and grabbed Naruto's wrist. "Hey come on… we're all comrades and friends here. Come sit with us." He smiled at Naruto.

"Ah Kurama-sama." The waiter noted. "Is he with you? He seems to say-"

Kurama looked at the waiters eyes.

It flashed red for just an instant.

Naruto's hand went towards his pouch.

The waiter seemed dazed. "Ah… yes. I'll be going then." The waiter bowed once more before turning around and walking to serve the other customers. Kawasu turned around smiling at the blonde to find him glaring at him with cold eyes.

Kawasu's smile got wider.

"Are you mad?" He leaned in and whispered in Naruto's ear. "I've been so bored lately… want to throw down right here and right now? That's usually not my style but for you I might make an exception."

"Who are you?" Naruto whispered, staring at nothing.

"Heir and Progenitor of the Kurama clan." Kurama rattled off as if these words had been drilled into him from childhood. "I am the one who will bring back the Kurama clan back to their glory… I'm really not one to boast usually-"

"That's not hard to believe that all." Naruto drawled.

"But," Kurama continued as if the blonde had not said anything at all. "They call me the Genjutsu Prince. Want to see why they call me that?"

Naruto's face twitched and he pushed the boy back with both arms. Kurama leaned back with the blow not losing his balance at all. Naruto had a good enough sense of balance himself not to be tricked by the move. He glared at the so called Genjutsu Prince.

Kawasu turned around and began to walk to the table. "Come on let's go."

Naruto didn't want to follow but despite his cold exterior he was boiling inside.

Not with anger.

But with excitement.

This guy radiated casual power and wasn't above using it to get what he wanted. Naruto wasn't fooled. This kid took pride in his strength, not the casual pride that came from talent. But he took pride in the strength that he earned. This kid, if he was truly as great as he claimed to be, was probably not only a hard worker but talented as well. People from great clans like him didn't get acknowledged for hard work. They looked for talent. It wasn't hard to imagine this kids childhood.

Born into a clan that had fallen into ruin it must have been hard. The clan was probably waiting for a person like him, one with enough talent to bring them out of the rut they fell into. As soon as he had shown enough aptitude for the shinobi arts, they must have started drilling him day and night. Judging from his carefree attitude he probably wasn't allowed to play like other kids. So he naturally grew up like this, bored with everything in life, bored with kids his age who possessed neither the talent nor training nor the drive this kid possessed. He was looking for someone who could fight with him and match up. He was looking to find that lost childhood.

He only cared about the revival of his clan.

Everything else was a joke.

The blonde followed the heir of the Kurama clan to his seat and seated himself next to the boy. Across him sat Ino and the pink haired girl he remembered as Sakura. Shiho had told him the names of all the genin that they had seen that day.

"H-hi." Ino tried to smile. "We met before."

"You're Inoichi Ino." Naruto smiled. "We probably got off on the wrong foot before."

"Yeah we probably did." Ino seemed to relax nudging Sakura. The pink haired girl gave him a shy wave.

"Haruno Sakura." Naruto said before she could say it. Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "I know all the genin of this year." He shrugged. "Shiho wanted me and Sai to learn them no matter what."

Naruto seemed to notice the seating arrangement for the first time. He looked at Kawasu. The boy had been suckered into this by his teammate. But it looked like he had no interest in the blonde or even the pink haired girl. He decided to have some fun.

"Hey Ino," Naruto leaned forward. "How about Sakura and I leave so you and Kawasu can have some quality time?"

"W-what?" She glanced at Sakura. "I-is that ok?"

"Um… I'm sorry." Sakura muttered. "But I already have someone else I like."

"Let me change your mind." He said with a smirk. Sakura hesitated. Naruto wasn't exactly the best looking of the genins but he had a certain aura about him. She knew from hearsay that he was strong. Sure a lot of the genins didn't like him but they hadn't met him more than once. Sasuke wasn't even looking in her direction these days ever since he heard about the Chuunin Exams. Naruto was pretty much the first person to show interest in her.

"O-ok." Sakura answered looking down with a faint blush on her cheeks.

Kawasu gave Naruto a smile but Naruto could tell that it was fake. _"Touche my friend." _

"_You started it." _Naruto got up. "Come on let's go Sakura-chan. You can show me around Konoha."

…

"That's the Hokage tower." Sakura pointed peering at the blonde.

"I've been there before to get our first mission." He said staring at the tower. "Those faces on the mountain…."

"Those are the faces of the Hokages to date. The Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime and the Yondaime." Sakura had them memorized from her studying days in the academy.

"Wow… the old man looks really different from the fourth face… wait… he's the Sandaime though." Naruto looked at her. "What's that about?"

"The Fourth Hokage," explained Sakura. "died twelve years ago… right about the time we were born. He died saving the village from the Kyuubi Excursion."

Naruto's head buzzed with pain. He just grimaced and pushed the pain to the back of his mind, locking it up in a tiny little mental chest. He turned to her, surprising Sakura with the intensity in his eyes.

"Tell me about it." He ordered.

"U-uh," Sakura stuttered. "A giant nine-tailed demon supposedly attacked the village. The fourth hokage died killing it… that's about it."

"_That's about the time we were born… why does this sound so weird to me." _Naruto leaned on the wall next to him. _"What's up with his headache." _

"Are you ok?" The girl sounded genuinely worried.

Naruto waved a hand. "Yeah… I just have this awful headache for some reason." He groaned and leaned on the wall heavier. The words seemed to be rolling around his head and reverberating in his skull, amplifying with each bounce. The blonde closed his eyes and with iron discipline pushed it away, using sheer will to get rid of the words. He opened his eyes to see Sakura biting her lower lip.

"S-sorry. Is that the whole story?"

Sakura nodded. "I mean if you want I guess you can go and get some books at the library. Come on I'll show you where it is."

"Ok." Naruto made the motion to follow.

Then they heard a scream.

Naruto reacted a lot faster than Sakura. The scream had come from the opposite side of their destination. Naruto did not hesitate to run towards the source leaving Sakura quite literally in the dust. Sakura looked behind her to see a blonde blur speed away. Realizing what it was that they heard Sakura followed though no where as fast as Naruto.

Naruto turned the corner to find a strange scene.

There was a kid being held by the front of his shirt. The kid had short spiky brown hair held back by goggles. He wore a black scarf around his neck and a yellow shirt underneath. He was holding onto the wrist of the hand that held him trying to escape from it to no avail. The one who was holding him was simply larger, older and stronger. The kid could not have been more than eight or nine years old.

The one holding him had a strange outfit if Naruto had any say in it. The kid's outfit resembled a black cat. He wore a baggy black full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wore a hat that had two pointed ear like appendages. His face was turned from Naruto so he couldn't get a good look at his features but he saw the start of something like a tattoo or pain on his face.

There was a girl next to him with blonde hair tied up into four pigtails. She was the first one to notice Naruto had arrived. She had green eyes which glanced at Naruto before she turned back to her teammate. Naruto spied the forehead protector that had been wrapped around her neck and it definitely was not a leaf insignia. She wore a single outfit that came from her torso to mid thigh. There was also a red sash tied around her waist which held a long stick.

"Kankuro," The girl said to her teammate. "Let the kid go. We're gathering a crowd."

The boy, called Kankuro, glanced at Temari then at the blonde. "I'm just having some fun. Besides this kid bumped into me first."

"Kankuro… he's not going to like this."

"I know, but he's not here is he Temari?" Kankuro turned back to see the kid.

There wasn't a kid anymore but a wooden log wearing the kids goggles. Kankuro and Temari's eyes widened. They had not seen any movement from anything.

The sand nins turned to see the newly arrived blonde kid hand off the crying child to a pink haired kunoichi. Kankuro frowned and gritted his teeth seeming to move towards the blonde when Temari put a hand on his shoulder. Kankuro looked back at her and she shook her head managing to calm the genin.

"They say black cats are bad luck," Naruto said as he dusted himself. "But I've never seen one as big as you. Even though I don't believe in luck I gotta say, the sheer size of this one makes me nervous."

Kankuro narrowed his eyes and his fingers twitched.

Naruto's lips stretched into a grin. "You look like you came straight out of Alice in Wonderland."

Kankuro frowned looking at Temari not catching the reference. The blonde shrugged not catching it either.

Kankuro doubled over in pain when Naruto appeared in front of him with his fist in the boy's gut. The Suna Genin attempted to recover when Naruto followed up with a knee to the same spot forcing Kankuro to double over even more. The blonde elbowed him on the back of the neck forcing him to fall to the ground face first. Temari reached behind her to take out her fan when someone grabbed her wrists. She looked back to find the blonde that had been beating up Kankuro. She looked back and forth her eyes wide.

"_A clone, when did he-"_

"If you make trouble in my village ever again," Naruto whispered to the two of them putting his foot on Kankuro's head. "I'll kill you."

When he delivered those last three words his eyes became a shade lighter as if the ocean itself had frozen over. Temari actually shivered when the blonde delivered his promise.

"_He reminds me of Gaara in a way…" _

The blonde behind Temari disappeared accompanied by smoke at the same time as the one who had stepped on Kankuro's neck disappeared with smoke. Kankuro got up, snarling and spitting his face paint smeared all over his face. He flicked his fingers and the chakra strings came back to him. Temari realized that both had been clones. If they had not Kankuro's chakra strings would have beheaded a person.

"_This is getting serious." _Temari grimaced and took a step back putting a hand on the weapon behind her back to stop her brother if need be.

The real blonde was still next to the pink haired kunoichi his hands in his pockets. However Temari noticed the slight shift in his weight, letting them know that he was ready to move at the slightest show of weakness. In his mouth was a scroll that was partially open. Sakura and Konohamaru stepped behind the blonde, their eyes wide and nervous.

"Hey you," Kankuro took the package wrapped in bandages from his back and set it on the ground. "I'll give you one change to apologize."

Naruto took a shuriken out of his holster with one hand. He flicked it with a thumb, sending it spinning into the air above. At its maximum height Naruto swiped his thumb over it, sending tiny droplets of blood scattering in the wind. The shuriken went back into his holster with a sound of meeting metal. In one smooth movement Naruto swiped his finger over the scroll in his mouth, summoning a sheathed katana accompanied by a little smoke. He grabbed the scabbard a little above the handle his other hand taking the scroll from his mouth and putting it back in the holster.

Kankuro ran towards Naruto leaving his package on the ground.

Naruto thrust towards Kankuro handle first. The katana flew out of the scabbard the handle burying itself in Kankuro's stomach.

To Naruto's shock the Suna Genin ignored it and grabbing the katana by the blade itself, threw it to the side.

"_What the hell-" _Was Naruto's thought right before he was punched in the face and sent to the ground.

Sakura gasped.

Kankuro smirked and turned around. "Now we're even."

"No we're not." Said a muffled voice.

Kankuro turned around.

The blonde had a gigantic three bladed shuriken in his hand with a bit of smoke drifting away from it. Naruto brought the shuriken so that it covered his face, looking out through the metal ring at the center.

Kankuro readied himself.

Naruto rushed towards Kankuro, slashing in front of him with the shuriken. Kankuro backpedaled and dodged each strike. Naruto let his body fall forward and slashed right above his head. Kankuro raised his legs into the air before the strike could take his legs off. Naruto immediately reversed momentum and slashed upwards. The slash missed Kankuro by a mile but the blonde's foot didn't. Naruto slashed upwards with his right arm so that his left was facing Kankuro. With his left leg Naruto kicked Kankuro in the stomach. Kankuro flew across the clearing hitting the tree with his back.

Naruto's shuriken hummed through the air and hit the tree, Kankuro's neck caught in between the shuriken blades which were embedded in the tree.

The blonde created another gigantic three bladed shuriken throwing it with deadly speed.

It missed Kankuro by a mile sailing through the air harmlessly.

Sakura sweat dropped. _"Did he just miss…" _

Kankuro held pinned against the tree.

Naruto had a wicked smile on his face. "I knew it…" He muttered.

Temari stared at the blonde. _"How did he…"_

"_When I hit him earlier and sent him to the ground a normal genin should have bled even a little bit. But he shrugged the damage off as if it was nothing. Not only that what kind of crazy person grabs a blade by the handle without even using a jutsu strengthen himself. That thing isn't human and if I'm right, the real person is in that package." _Naruto got up, dusting himself as the shuriken puffed out of existence. _"And I just cut the connection between that thing on the tree and the package." _

Naruto walked over to the package. "Hey… the farce is up. Get out of there."

Sakura and Konohamaru watched as Naruto squatted down and began to poke and punch the package on the ground. "Hey… I know you're there. Come out man. What are you a genie? Do you want me to rub you three times or something?"

Temari appeared between the package and Naruto. She had a glare on her face. "That's enough… get back."

Naruto got up dusting his knees. "Well since you asked so nicely…"

The Kankuro that was stuck on the tree moved, taking the shuriken out of the tree and walking towards Naruto, hostility plain on his face.

Naruto, while Temari's attention was on Kankuro, kicked the package knocking it over. Kankuro screamed with rage running towards the blonde.

"That's enough Kankuro..."

Naruto noticed Temari stiffen besides him. He looked at her out of curiosity and to his surprise he found something that he had not encountered in a while.

Terror.

It was one thing to be scared of something but it was completely another to be absolutely terrified of something to the core of some being. If you were scared you could tolerate them being near you albeit a bit uncomfortably. But Temari looked as if she had just been alerted that all her family had died and the killer was here. The catch was that instead of burning for revenge Temari knew down to her bones that this killer was going to kill her too. No matter what.

It was just a matter of time.

There was a wave of sand and the third member of this team showed up. He had messy red hair and a wide forehead. The wideness of the forehead was emphasized by his absence of eyebrows and a tattoo on his forehead, the kanji for Love etched there. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had green eyes however around them were rings of black that reminded Naruto of dark circles. He wore a black full body suit with short sleeves that came down to his knees. There was a white cloth over his right shoulder used to carry a humongous gourd on his back.

"But this guy-" Kankuro started.

Gaara looked at him.

That was enough.

Gaara had been hanging upside down on a tree branch. Sand began to whirl around him until he disappeared from within and reappeared in front of Naruto with Temari behind him. Kankuro grudgingly came to stand behind him.

"I'm Gaara." The red haired kid said.

"Naruto…" The blonde couldn't find it in himself to joke around. He simply couldn't in front of the red hair. It wasn't that he didn't have anything to talk about. The gourd on his back, the black ring around his eyes and the creepy lack of eyebrows were all verbal ammo for the blonde. But something about Gaara told him that it'd be unwise to throw a joke here.

Without another word Gaara turned around walking away. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Sakura found the courage to speak up. "Why are foreign ninja here… you're not allowed to be here!"

Temari turned around. "It seems that you don't know yet… the chuunin exams are going to be held in Konohagakure no Sato this year." She smirked. "I'll see you around… Naruto."

Naruto looked at the sky. _"Looks like this so called test isn't going to be as easy as I thought… I wonder what other monsters are going to be in this exam." _

…..

"Wow!" Kurotsuchi put a hand on her forehead. "So that's Konoha huh?"

"Hey Kurotsuchi!" said a voice from below her. "Gari-sensei's calling for you!"

Kurotsuchi looked down from the tree. She was standing on top of it, sticking to the side with chakra. She stood on it not upright but sideways. She was wearing the same outfit as last time except this time there was a katana behind her tucked into a sash around her waist. The katana was standard ninja katana. It had no guard and curved slightly. It was a faint shade of red and black. Kurotsuchi leaped off of the tree flipped in the air a few times before landing on the ground, looking as if she had just stomped inside a puddle.

Akatsuchi was sitting on a rock his hands on his belly with a smile on his face. Gari stood a little next to him his arms crossed and looking impatient. Mumaru sat on the floor, facing away from them all. He looked like he was meditating.

"Konoha seems a lot prettier than Iwa." Kurotsuchi's eyes held a malicious gleam. "But it seems a lot more susceptible to attack…"

Gari peered at his student. "Kurotsuchi… remember what I said."

"Yeah yeah," She waved her hand, dismissing the admonishment. "I get it." She turned her gaze to Mumaru. "What's he doing."

"He's gathering Jinton Chakra." Akatsuchi explained. "Sensei had him face away from us so that-"

The area in front of Mumaru exploded into nothingness. Trees were ripped out of the ground root and all, upending dirt, rocks and even miniscule amounts of water. The rocks and debris in the air began to spin in front of him like a horizontal tornado. Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi and Gari covered their ears and leaped a few meters away from Mumaru who remained sitting on the ground, watching the veritable Armageddon in front of him.

"If that happened," Akatsuchi finished. "We don't get hurt."

Kurotsuchi peered out from behind a tree whistling.

In front of Mumaru lay a huge crater with nothing.

There wasn't even a hint of the trees and rocks that had been flying out before.

They had all been obliterated in the wake of the Jinton.

Mumaru stood up and faced his team.

"It's finished." He told them then narrowed his eyes. "I won't lose to him this time…"

Gari smiled. _"I've never seen Mumaru work so hard…" _He looked at the sun. _"I wonder if that blonde will be at the exam too. Watch out Naruto… Mumaru is not the same as before." _

….

"This damned sun! I hate this!"

The girl had mint green hair with a orange clip in it. She had dark skin not from descent but from staying out in the sun. She wore a white shirt that revealed her mid section. Underneath the white shirt she wore a mesh net outfit. She wore long white gloves that came up to her elbows and left her fingers bare. She wore a apron skirt and mesh shorts underneath. Her arms hung limply at her sides and she was covered in sweat, looking at the sun with a tired expression in her eyes.

"Nothing we can do about it Fu." Said her teammate. "It's still summer. Come on, we're late. The test starts tomorrow we should at least get a full night's rest."

Fu looked at her teammate with loathing in her eyes.

He had long brown hair that reached a bit past his shoulders. He was good looking enough but his outfit was plain, making his first impression similar. He wore green shirts, grey pants and ninja sandals, nothing about him really sticking out except the Takigakure Forehead Protector tied around his forehead. His forehead protector cloth was blue and came past his shoulders behind him. On his waist there was a small gourd.

"Listen to Shibuki, Fu." Her other teammate was walking a bit behind them, his hands in his pockets. He had long spiky black hair that gathered into a single point about six inches off of his head. He wore a black v-neck long sleeve shirt with mesh underneath and the same type of pants. He had the forehead protector tied around his head. On his waist, to the right side two masks lay. One had a protruding snout like a cat while the other one was a face with stripes going vertical and horizontal across it.

Fu looked at the teammate that had just spoken to her. "Aren't you hot in that outfit?"

He shrugged. "I'm fine the way I am." He looked around. "Where's Sensei?"

"I'm right here." There was dark blue blur and their sensei appeared right behind them. He was a lean and slender man with shoulder length pale blue hair. He wore the dark blue flak jacket of Takigakure no Sato. To Fu their sensei looked rather sickly but she knew from firsthand experience that he wasn't as sickly as he seemed. "Konoha's not too far off Fu."

He looked at the kid with the masks. "Iko remember what I said?"

Iko nodded while narrowing his eyes.

Youma sighed. He had been put in charge of taking care of the three genin during this chuunin exam. Due to Shibuki's father's untimely death the village decided to advance Shibuki to chuunin as fast as possible. If the exam wasn't held in Konohagakure no Sato the council would probably not let them have gone but relations with Konoha had been good lately. They had sent a message ahead of time letting them know that Shibuki was a valued shinobi bloodline and they expected cooperation. A man named Danzo had said that he'll take care of it.

Youma didn't personally like the man but it had been imperative that Shibuki's safety come first. The Takigakure Jounin put his personal feelings aside and looked at his three genin. _"If anything Fu can… no. It's important that Fu's identity is kept secret." _

Said genin was currently shaking her fist at the sun in the sky promising death to Konoha if the hotel that they were staying in did not have a cooling system.

"**Fu," **said a voice inside her head.

Fu frowned. Youma noticed the expression change but did not comment on it.

"**I sense… two others like me in the village ahead of us. That's not about being lucky Fu… this is fate. This is unlucky. We should head back. One of them smells like Shukaku but the other one… I don't like this. It's either one of two but I have a feeling it's the unlucky one." **

"_What do you mean unlucky?... I'm the luckiest shinobi in the world!" _Fu thought back furiously. _"I want to be a chuunin too! Shut up and stay inside you bug!" _

"**Fu, this is serious. If they smell us… damn it Fu. Shukaku is half mad as it already is. If they know how to control their demons… and if they grew up as we suspect them to have grown up… I don't know if my power will be enough." **The demon's tone sounded worried.

"_Don't worry," _Fu looked at Shibuki and Iko. _"We have Iko and if anything else, Shibuki has the Hero Water. There's nothing the three of us can't handle." _

"**At least let me get my chakra to the surface so that I can defend you at a moment's notice." **

"_Stupid, sensei told me not to let people know about you. Don't worry when I fall into real danger I won't hesitate to call on you. Happy?" _

The Nanabi quieted down and Fu sighed in release.

"_I wonder what has him so scared…"_

…

Sai walked through the village aimlessly thinking about his mission.

"_Protect the Uchiha… and the boy named Shibuki." _Sai wasn't dressed in his usual outfit of black and red, instead he was wearing his civilian outfit.

Sai gripped a fist and looked down at it. _"That's the mission. There is no self. There is no such thing as we. The mission is me and I am the mission. Nothing else." _

"_Then why do I feel like this…" _Sai released his hand to the side and looked at the blue clouds drifting lazily by. _"Why do I feel like I'm wronging Naruto and Shiho?..." _

Sai closed his eyes and thought of Shin.

"_Follow your heart Sai… do what you feel is right." _

"Even if it means giving up the mission?" Sai whispered. "But doesn't that go against everything that they taught us in ROOT? What does that mean Shin? Why do I want to give up this mission… and go with Naruto and Shiho?"

"That's called emotion."

Sai flipped around a kunai appearing from within his sleeve. There was the sound of metal hitting metal right next to Sai's ear but he didn't bother to block the noise out.

He was struggling holding the kunai against the tanto of his opponent.

His opponent was dressed in a long black cloak. He wore a pony tail that swung a bit behind his head. He wore a mask that resembled a cat's face. His hands were covered in black leather gloves that left the fingers bare. He pushed a bit against Sai keeping the genin on his toes.

"Senpai," Sai grunted. "What brings you here?" He looked around to see if anyone was watching them. Of course, this person wouldn't carelessly attack in broad daylight though the term was metaphorical here. They were in an abandoned alleyway with walls surrounding both of them. It was a quiet neighborhood and Sai doubted anyone had seen them.

"Shall we move this up?" The ROOT member suddenly lunged and got his position right beneath Sai's center of gravity, pushing up with his Tanto. Sai moved with the blow, jumping upwards and sticking on the walls. All a regular person could see was two blurs hitting the walls and clashing against each other several times before landing on the roof together.

Sai had a tiny cut on his cheek.

He never stopped smiling.

"Good… your skills haven't rusted. If anything I'd say you improved."

"The blonde," Sai replied. "Is a handful."

"If I didn't know any better," The ROOT member put the tanto on his back again. "I'd say that was almost a compliment."

"Well it's a good thing you do know better." Sai's smile almost fell off of his face. _"Naruto's rubbing off on me." _

Sai wasn't sure but the ROOT member hesitated for half a second. "I was sent to spy on you Sai." He tilted his head to the side. The mask tilted with his head and Sai had to suppress a shiver from the unnatural movement. "I heard everything you said. I know you're having second thoughts about the mission."

His voice turned.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

Sai remained silent.

"Sai… don't forget you're still a part of ROOT. Failure is not an option."

Sai just smiled.

The cat's mask was only an inch away from his face. Sai held himself back, having expected his senpai to resort to a favored technique to scare the opponent.. Though the genin had expected it the lack of sound and the sheer speed did shock him. He simply hid it from appearing on his face.

But Sai wasn't as good as he thought.

The ROOT member saw it and his eyes narrowed beneath his mask before he backed off. "Just keep in mind Sai… in ROOT we don't tolerate failure."

He turned around.

"You know the failure doesn't mean the failure of the mission does it?"

"A ninja who can't complete a mission… is the failure." Sai whispered almost to himself.

"As long as you know." In another blink the ROOT member left.

Sai sat down where he was staring at the sky once more. He laughed to himself.

"_Shin… tell me what to do… I… I want to escape from here. I don't want to be in ROOT anymore… I just…" _He closed his eyes. _"I just want to keep on being on a team with Naruto and Shiho and Yamato-sensei. Please… tell me what to do."_

…

"Hey you're late again Naruto." Shiho yelled.

"Sorry sorry," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I was up late trying to figure out how to get this stupid seal to work." He was dressed to battle. Instead of having one holster on each leg, he had elected to have only one holster. The blonde had no other equipment to speak of.

But then again… Samurai's need only their swords.

Sai was dressed as he usually did, mid riff shirt and black jacket with two red stripes. He had his tanto on his back and small pouch on his waist. Shiho was the same, having a small pouch on her wais and a holster on her thigh.

The three traded looks with each other.

Naruto feigned boredom but he couldn't keep his muscles from quivering with excitement.

Shiho was openly excited, her hands shaking from nervousness and eagerness.

Naruto looked at Sai.

Sai looked…

Troubled.

He thought Sai would have a new book or that smile plastered on his face. Naruto had expected Sai to show some type of emotion however fake it might be. However that troubled look in Sai's eye disappeared as soon as it had appeared. Naruto looked at Sai again and there was nothing there anymore.

Nothing.

"Hey Sai-" Naruto began.

"We should get going." Sai said.

His tone shocked Naruto.

Naruto bristled. "Hey Sai what the hell-"

"Naruto!" Shiho shot the blonde a look. She gestured mouthing 'later.'

Team 13 gathered together once again, set off to take the Chuunin Exams.

…..

They entered the academy not knowing what to expect. Shiho theorized that it would be some type of written exam. Naruto surmised that it might be a fight to the death kind of test but it was soon shot down. After they had started walking Sai had loosened up a bit, even taking care to put on his smile once more. Naruto eased up but he still peered at the ROOT member when he thought he would not notice. However Sai did notice and every time he did he got another troubled look on his face for the fraction of a second.

They walked up the stairs hearing people yell and the sound of fighting reached their ears.

Naruto leaped up the stairs unable to wait.

"Gosh," Shiho whispered to Sai. "Whenever there's fighting he just _have _to be involved."

There was a big crowd in front of the classroom. From what Naruto could see there were two genins guarding the doorway, their arms crossed in front of their chests with their legs spread wide. They were stopping the other genin from going in. Naruto cocked his head to the side and decided to do something that he rarely did.

He waited.

"Let us in!" One random genin yelled.

"Look," said the genin with a cloth wrapped around his face. "We're doing you guys a favor. It's not easy there. Do you know how many people die in the exams? If you can't defeat us then there's no chance of you guys succeeding. Now shoo!"

"I SAID LET US IN!" yelled said random genin and jumped towards the other. Naruto immediately noticed the green jumpsuit that he was wearing.

And his footwork.

"_Not normal." _Thought the blonde as he calmly observed the event. Sai and Shiho were next to him. Sai stood there with his usual expression and Shiho leaned on the wall, her arms crossed watching the fight.

It didn't take too long. The green suit wearing kid got kicked away and he landed on the ground, rubbing the beginning of a bruise on his cheek.

"That's a genjutsu by the way." Said a pleasant voice next to Naruto's ear.

Naruto reacted with immediate violence holding two shuriken in his fingertips as he slashed the air next to him. Said person was already gone, hiding behind the his teammate, Sakura.

"Now now," Kawasu seemed to be singing. "Let's not get hasty. Come on Sakura-chan. We're missing the show."

Naruto turned his attention back to the fight near the doorway. Sasuke had involved himself in the fight and had apparently tried to kick the genin guarding the doorway. The other genin tried to kick back.

The one in the green jumpsuit had blocked both of their kicks.

"_He's good." _Naruto saw them exchange some useless banter and the green suit heading their way. He looked at the seal on his left palm. _"This exam isn't a joke. I really need my sword." _

"I'm Rock Lee! Nice to meet you!" The kid stopped in front of them. Sasuke returned to stand next to Sakura. Naruto nodded with Sai and Sakura making motions as if to leave.

"Naruto-kun," Kawasu drawled. "Leaving so soon?"

"I'm going to the bathroom." Naruto lied and began to climb the stairs with his teammates.

"Wait!" Lee called to them. "I want to fight you!"

Naruto froze.

He turned around a smile beginning to stretch over his lips. He pointed to himself. "M-me?"

Lee nodded. "I hear… that you along with Sasuke-kun and Kawasu-kun is the strongest among your year." He continued. "I know Sasuke-kun was rookie of the year. But I also know…" He glanced at Sakura. "That you went on a date with Sakura-chan! I will fight you for her love! Yosh!"

Sai and Shiho gave him a disgusted glare.

"Consorting with the enemy are we?" Shiho deadpanned.

"I hope you did not give her any information about our team." Joined in Sai. "On the other side I read in the book that I'm supposed to say this to you. The phrase was 'Did you get it in' I believe?"

Naruto ignored both of them and turned towards the group that was staring at him waiting for his answer. He smiled knowing what he was doing.

"I don't know her." Naruto quipped then turned around. "Come on guys let's go."

Within Sakura's mind something ugly was born.

"_**See I told you he didn't like you." **_

"_I knew that I just… I JUST WANTED TO FEEL LOVED!" _

"_**Sasuke doesn't like you… Naruto doesn't like you… you will never get married. You will never have a family! You will be alone forever!" **_

"_That bastard… he used me… he used me…"_

"_**Kill him… that Naruto bastard yes… kill him and offer his head on a plate to Sasuke…" **_

"_Yes… Sasuke… our precious… he will love us then." _

Naruto felt a chill go down his spine. _"Why do I feel like someone's world just ended… well as long as it's not my world…" _

The three arrived at the floor seeing other genins already gathering around each other. They were gathering in groups and talking to each other in whispers. Naruto noticed some familiar faces there, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari sat near the back glaring at anyone that came anywhere near them. As if sensing this there was a large absence of people around that area. There was another group, a frail looking guy with a green haired girl and a kid with masks attached to his belt. Naruto stared at the group something about them setting off alarms in his head the same way that Gaara did.

"_One of them… is giving off the same aura as Gaara." _Concluded the blonde. All three of them looked pretty strong though in their own ways. _"Maybe the one with the mask… he has that serious look on his face." _He studied other people.

"Geesh Kawasu," said a familiar voice as another group came up. "Why'd you yell it out like that?"

"It's more fun that way Sakura-chan." Kawasu and his team came up from the stairs. Naruto looked at them and tilted his head to the side.

"Hey Sai," Naruto said with a smirk to his friend. "Doesn't it look like Sasuke just chewed on something bitter? And what are those bruises on his face?"

"Looks like he fought someone." Sai whispered.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled from across the room, dragging her two unwilling teammates with her.

Team 13 gave a wide area around Team 10 as they approached Team 7. Naruto leaned on a table watching the drama unfold between Sakura and Ino as they argued over Sasuke. Kiba, Shino and Hinata joined the party completing the combo for the graduating genin.

"Aren't they your friends?"

Naruto frowned recognizing the voice. He turned around to see a familiar trio smiling at him.

"Remember me?" Kurotsuchi put her arms behind her back and smiled at Naruto. "It's me! From that temple!"

"Yeah," Naruto pointed at each of them. "Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi and Mumaru. You guys are here to take the exams too?"

"We are." Mumaru approached Naruto. "I hope you make it to the finals… else I'd have wasted my time."

Naruto looked at Gaara and at Mumaru. He also heard Kawasu make some sarcastic comment with the other Konoha genin. He looked back at Mumaru.

"Looks like going to the finals might be worth it." Naruto drawled.

"How come you're not with them?" Kurotsuchi asked. "Let me guess… are you guys the outcasts? The unwanted? The unneeded?" She looked at Shiho. "Oh… glasses girl! You look stronger! Have you been training?"

Shiho ignored Kurotsuchi looking at Mumaru. "I won't be fighting with just kunai and explosive tags anymore." She narrowed her eyes. "Before you can fight Naruto you're going to go through me first."

Mumaru looked at her. "I'll be sure to crush you with my full power."

"This little group looks fun." Kawasu joined in, leaving the other Konoha Genin behind. Naruto glanced back to see them staring at Kawasu and him.

Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just can't help but crash a party can't you?"

"I love parties." Kawasu replied studying the Iwa Genin. "As long as I'm not invited."

"Who's this one?" Kurotsuchi commented. "Konoha's just full of good looking boy isn't it?"

"I'm Kurama Kawasu." Kawasu took Kurotsuchi's hand and gave a little bow. "Can I have your name?"

"Kurotsuchi." She smiled at him.

"_For all her comments about handsome boys," _Naruto was inching away from the two. _"She looks like she's studying a new product." _

While he had not been paying attention Kawasu said something making Kurotsuchi laugh. The two were so fake that Naruto couldn't handle it anymore. He stepped away from them.

And straight into the group from Takigakure.

"Ah… sorry." He studied each of them before reaching out with a hand towards the one in the middle with long brown hair. It was obvious he was the leader. "Uzumaki Naruto. Genin of Konoha."

Naruto was surprised when the kid took his hand with a pleasant smile. "Hi. I'm Shibuki, these are my teammates, Fu and Iko."

"_Finally someone civil and nice." _Thought the Blonde. "How do you guys like Konoha so far?"

"It's hot." The girl called Fu blurted. "It's a lot easier to get into than Takigakure too. How do you people guard this big place?"

"Fu," Shibuki warned.

Naruto laughed. "I don't know either. I'm new here."

Iko frowned. "But you have the Konoha Hiate…"

Naruto looked at the hiate wrapped around his neck. "Yeah… I was born here. But I actually grew up in-"

There was the sound of a fight.

Naruto looked over to see a gray haired genin from Konoha fall to the ground clutching his ear. It was bleeding profusely, leaking out from his hand into the ground. Naruto saw three ninja standing across from the konoha herd who were throwing death glances at the opponents.

"Sorry guys," Naruto patted Shibuki on the shoulder, his eyes glued at the incident. "I'm going to have to go."

When Naruto got near enough he heard everything.

"-think twice before talking about Oto Shinobi in that way again." The speaker was wrapped in bandages, only one eye shown. He had a weird metal contraption on his right arm with holes punched through it. He had a straw raincoat that covered his back which Naruto mistook for his hair at first.

"Seems your attack has a lot to do with sound waves." The one with grey hair muttered before he threw up on the ground.

"Konoha scum." The other one said. He had spiky dark hair and his forehead protector was attached to a faceguard. "You're all weak. Pathetic."

"Enough Zaku," The one with the metal arm muttered. "None of them have the guts to stand up to us."

The girl tucked her hair behind her ears. "Come on Dosu… we're wasting our time here." The one called Dosu stared at the Konoha Shinobi for a bit longer something flashing across his single eye.

"Kin's right." Zaku turned on his heel and walked away with Kin. Dosu followed.

Sasuke kneeled next to the grey haired genin. "I want information on one more person." He looked straight at Naruto and the other Konoha genin looked at him as if noticing him for the first time.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy nodded and took out a card. "Here it is… he's done 1 C-rank mission. His abilities have to do with extensive Kenjutsu. Other than that I don't have anything." He looked at the blonde and got up though he seemed to be a bit unsteady on his feet. "You're a rare case… someone I don't have information on."

"Enough you maggots! Settle down! It's time to take the test!"

A huge man wearing an overcoat with a bandana over his head entered. Every single part of his body, except his neck and face, were covered. Gloves, boots and a bandana covering everything. He introduced himself, explaining who he was and how the exam was going to work.

"I'm Ibiki Morino." Other chuunin began to file into the room. "There's going to be a written exam… we have arranged seats for you. Follow the chuunin and settle down while I explain the rules."

"The test is composed of ten questions, the tenth question which will be inducted at the end. Each question is worth one point, those caught cheating will be deducted two points. For those who are caught cheating three times will be immediately excused." He looked at the genin who were now seated. "Ready? Begin!"

Naruto startled as a paper puffed into existence in front of him. He glanced at the girl next to him. It was none other than the Hyuuga Heiress.

"G-good luck Naruto-kun." She whispered.

"You too." He struggled for the name. "Hinata."

She smiled and began to write down on her test.

Naruto looked over the his paper noting the questions and how many minutes it would take him to complete each one. They only had two hours and he didn't want to waste his time solving problems that he could never solve. He looked at each of the questions a smile beginning to start at his lips.

His pencil snapped in half, unable to handle the strength of his grip.

Naruto smiled at the paper though he had a tick mark on his forehead. _"This test is a piece of cake… because I can't solve anything. Shiho… where are you now…" _

Shiho looked at the paper steadily solving each problem. _"There's no way Naruto who's never been tested in ninja theory to be able to solve these types of questions. This is impossible for genins to solve. It's like they're asking us to fail. Or…" _Her eyes widened. _"Cheat." _

She looked around, careful that the chuunin proctors did not see her. Sure enough she saw the kid in front of her using a well known doujutsu known as the Byakugan, the chakra lines in his faces clearly outlined at the side of his face. Shiho gulped and looked at other people and though she couldn't tell a lot of them didn't look too worried. Actually they didn't even look like they were working hard on their exams. Instead they seemed to be waiting for something.

Waiting for other people to finish their exams.

"_Cheaters." _Shiho pushed her glasses up and began to work on her test once more.

Sai reached into his pocket and took out a pen. A proctor came over to him.

"Let me see that."

Sai passed it over to the proctor with a smile on his face. The proctor turned the pen this way and that finding nothing wrong with it.

"I like writing with pen more than pencil. Is that a problem?"

The proctor nodded and gave it back to him. He bent down and whispered in Sai's ear, "If you cheat you're out of here do you understand?"

Sai ignored it and waited until the Chuunin turned around. He quickly drew tiny, almost invisible, birds on his paper. They came to life as he fed it chakra and began to fly over his test paper. He sent them to spy on other people's test papers and waited for them to return.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the test. _"Well… I failed anyways… so… might as well not waist anytime." _

The blonde put his head down and promptly fell asleep.

Loudly.

He began to snore.

The test room which had been filled with silence broken only by the sounds of pencils scratching was joined by the new sound of Naruto's snore. A lot of the genins looked up from their sheets to see the blonde sleeping soundly. It didn't look like he was faking it either, there was a little dribble of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. He was snoring loudly, but not loud enough to make it seem elaborate. A lot of the chuunin proctors looked at each other with entertained grins on their faces, amazed that a genin had the balls to sleep through the test. Ibiki was stone faced but his thoughts were similar.

"_Uzumaki Naruto…" _Ibiki smirked. _"If I can get rid of you…"_

…..

The jounins sat in a circle in a small room watching the test through the monitors. There was a man named Baki from the Sand standing near the entrance. Youma stood in front of a monitor, his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face. Gari was sitting on a chair, his eyes nearly closed in almost a meditative stance. The Konoha jounins included Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuuhi Kurenai and Yamato. There were other jounins in the room, someone from the sound and other less notable konoha jounin.

"Hey someone started snoring." Asuma said with amusement. "Who's that blonde on the screen?"

Gari opened one eye looking at the screen before smiling and going back.

"I-isn't that one of your Yamato?" Kurenai asked the man.

Yamato sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I'm a failure as a teacher…"

"Looks like it." Kakashi muttered. "Wow… he's really going at it isn't he? He looks like he's actually sleeping."

"He's actually sleeping." Yamato said, his voice muffled by his hands.

"W-what?" Kurenai gasped. "Did you stress the importance of this test to him?"

"There's always next year." Asuma said with a laugh. "You have no idea how scared my genin team is of yours. I've never seen Chouji and Shikamaru fired up about training. When I told them about the Chuunin exam the first thing Ino asked was if your team was going to be in it."

"Your team is the dark horse of this exam." Kurenai commented, her eyes glued to the screen. "But it looks like they'll be taken out here. But one thing was for sure… they really were the dark horse."

Yamato sighed looking at the screen. "Naruto…"

Gari looked at the screen once again noting the sleeping blonde's face.

"What do you think about this?" Said another jounin next to him. Gari looked up to see who it was. It was the jounin from Suna, a headwrap covering one eye. "That blonde… do you think it's some kind of plan?"

Gari laughed.

Baki seemed surprised.

"I meant no disrespect," Gari wiped a tear from his eye. "That boy is the most impulsive genin I've seen in my entire life."

"But he has strength to back it up." He turned serious. "Wouldn't you say… that only the king of predators has the gall to sleep in front of other predators without fear? That is a proof of the boy's confidence. If he had given up on the test he would have left. The reason he is sleeping is because he's sure he will pass this test and move on to the next part."

"My students were advised not to underestimate him."

The rest of the room heard Gari's assessment of the blonde. Gari was a well known figure in the shinobi world, making his name known by becoming the leader of the Explosion Corps.

Youma looked back at Gari while he spoke and he looked at the screen again. _"That blonde… is he truly that strong?" _

…..

"I will now give the final question." Ibiki snapped the book he had been reading closed.

The room was silent save for Naruto's snoring.

Ibiki cleared his throat.

Naruto snored.

Ibiki cleared his throat again, a bit louder.

Naruto snored at the same volume as before.

"NARUTO! YOU BAKA! WAKE UP!" Shiho screamed, standing up from her seat.

"WHA!" Naruto yelled as he got up, a pool of drool on the desk. He looked around realizing that he had stood up and that everyone was looking at him. He looked at Ibiki who looked like he wanted to torture Naruto a hundred different ways.

"S-sorry." Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head. He looked at the pool of drool on his desk. Looking at the kid next to him Naruto realized that during the test he had taken off his jacket. Taking the kids jacket Naruto wiped his drool as he sat down and threw it back.

"Wha-" Began the genin.

"Shut up." Naruto ordered with a serious face before turning back to Ibiki with a smile. "Please continue."

….

"Did you teach him his manners?" Kakashi drawled.

Yamato just buried his face in his hands.

…..

Ibiki glared daggers at the blonde before continuing. "The last question… but before the last question there's a little condition."

The room began to be filled with whispers. What was he talking about? What condition? Was this going to affect the test? Was the rumors that they were to fight each other to the death in the classroom true?

"You have to decide first. Whether you will take the questions or not."

Naruto frown. _"What in the nine hells is this guy talking about." _

"I guess you can say this is a preliminary to the tenth question." Ibiki supported his chin with his hand, closing his eyes. "By the way for those who can't answer the tenth question correct this will be the last time they ever take the chuunin exams. So choose carefully whether you want to take this exam or not. If even one member can't answer the question your whole team will be barred from the chuunin exams." He opened his eyes staring at the classroom of genin. "Forever."

"No way!" Kankuro stood up from his seat. "There's no way! There's no such thing in the chuunin exams! You're lying!"

"Shut up!" Ibiki ordered. The authority in the man's voice made Kankuro sit down though the boy was still seething "Well you guys didn't have me as a proctor yet. That's why I'm imposing this rule. For those trash who can't even answer this question you have no right to be chuunin." He smirked. "Just so you know, the average rate of people answering this questions is.. 1%."

"_1%?" _Shiho thought eyes wide open. _"What kind of question is it… I know Sai will be able to cheat without getting caught. How did Naruto do? Damn it, I'm too far away from Naruto to tell." _

"So who wants to give up?" Ibiki continued. "I assure you that there is nothing dishonorable about giving up. There is always next year. That is one trait of being a chuunin. That you can make the best decision for both you and your team."

Ibiki waited

Naruto leaned back in his chair, one hand over the backrest as people began to raise their hands and began to file out. Some began to cry unable to handle the pressure and some just raised their hands dejectedly. He watched as a genin raised his hand to the loathing of his teammates. He saw a lot of Konoha Genin giving up though none of the people he had marked as being special. As such the Suna Team didn't even move. Neither did the Takigakure Team or the Iwa Team. Most foreign shinobi did not move and Naruto understood why.

"_They came all this way… what a waste it would be." _He still saw very few foreign ninja raise their hands and be escorted out though. He sighed and looked at the genin that was sitting next to him that one whose jacket he took to clean up his drool.

As Ibiki waited longer and longer the tension began to build up and more and more hands began to go up. The more time Ibiki gave them to think the more doubts that built up inside of themselves.

…

"He has nothing on his paper," Kurenai bit her thumb. "Your student is really cocky isn't he? Even in this pressure with nothing on his paper he's staying in his seat. I don't know if he's stupid or idiotic." She glanced at Yamato. "Are you sure your team was ready for the chuunin exams?"

Yamato nodded though Kakashi didn't miss the look of fire in the man's eyes. _"Kurenai… you just pissed him off." _

"_Naruto…" _Yamato stapled his hands together in front of him, resting his elbows on his knees. _"What are you thinking?"_

...

The genin next to Naruto seemed to be struggling. Naruto saw a droplet of sweat on the genin's nose. He probably had various thoughts and doubts going through him. Naruto watched as the guy seemed to be going through a mental break down. Finally the guy made a motion as if to raise his hand.

Naruto grabbed his wrist.

The guys eyes widened.

Naruto smiled. _"I used his jacket… I should thank him somehow." _

"You know," Naruto spoke loud enough for his voice to be carried throughout the whole room. Everyone looked at him. It wasn't hard since everyone had already seen him sleeping. The fact that he had spoken up was a warrant for attention by others.

"There's a saying." Naruto continued while everyone watched. "That even if you have a 1% chance of defeating the enemy, if you don't draw your sword… that chance will forever remain a zero." Naruto leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on the desk.

"You're a fool if you think we will give up just because of that." The blonde looked around at the other genins with a cocky look. "We're not kids anymore. We're shinobi now. You think we'll give up just because of a chance that we might not be able to answer your question?"

Naruto blurred and he sat upright in his seat again. When he slapped his palm against the desk the sound reverberated throughout the room. The genin who had been in turmoil moments before was looking at the blonde with awe in their eyes.

"We live with the knowledge that we might die at any notice," Naruto whispered, his voice still heard by everyone in the room. "Your condition is asking us if we are ready to die or not… if we're up to the challenge."

"Guess what?" Naruto poked a thumb at his forehead protector wrapped around his neck. "The moment I took this on I knew I'd die a dogs death. Your condition doesn't scare me at all."

The blonde's eyes turned a shade colder. "Now give us the damned question… or I'll kill you."

Ibiki looked around the room. With the blonde's little speech he had not only dispelled the atmosphere of fear and doubt that Ibiki had cast through the room, but he had done the opposite. Naruto had filled the room with a sense of brimming confidence and infinite possibilities. Naruto, with those few words, had reignited dreams and suddenly made the impossible possible. The question, whether they took it or not, meant nothing now. They would all pass no matter what.

"_This guy… holds a weapon far more dangerous that any ninjutsu." _Ibiki shook his head a smile beginning to form. _"Hopes and Dreams." _

Kiba gritted his teeth and looked at his hands. _"Why does… why… even though I don't like him that much, why is he so cool? Why does he… make me want to believe in him and myself?" _

Mumaru nodded, his eyes narrow. _"Uzumaki Naruto… you are far more dangerous than I thought." _

Kurotsuchi was having similar thoughts. _"This guy… if he actually does become Hokage… it might be dangerous. Damn it I sound like I actually believe he can become Hokage. I'm sure there are other people…" _

Ibiki sighed. _"Looks like that's it…" _

…

Yamato looked at the screen his chest swelling with pride. _"Naruto…" _

"_Sensei…" _Kakashi's eyes were wide. _"No… it's different from that. Sensei commanded respect even fear. He made people believe in him but this guy… he makes people believe in themselves as well…" _

Kurenai looked at Yamato. "Don't get full of yourself. That's not something that's taught. That's something you're born with."

Yamato remained silent.

"_My team will crush yours…" _

….

"You all pass." Ibiki finished.

"What?" Everyone muttered. Then they looked at the blonde.

Naruto melted in his seat. "Oh good. Cause I was spouting out bullshit like there was no tomorrow."

"_I was a fool." _Kiba growled.

Mumaru sighed. _"Always the jokester…" _

"_Perhaps he should become Hokage after all… then Konoha will be so much easier to defeat." _Kurotsuchi smiled.

Ibiki smiled. "Just remember… there will always be life and death situations, even more so once you become Chuunin. But do not forget that you are shinobi and that is how one lives a life. Then-"

There was the sound of the window being shattered.

A black ball of cloth crashed through it, opening up to reveal a big black flag that attached itself to the floor and ceiling using kunai. A woman rolled out of the middle, flipping in the air several times before standing up, a hand on her hips. She wore a tan overcoat, one of two pockets occupied by a hand. She wore a fitted mesh body suit from her neck down to her thighs, covered by a mini-skirt. She wore the konoha hiate around her forehead.

"Eh?... over half? Losing your touch Ibiki." She said with a smile at the man.

Naruto sighed. _"Another weirdo." _

"Come on you fucking brats," She said in a loud voice. "I'm Mitarashi Anko and I'll be your proctor for the second exam."

AN: Did you like the chapter? I know it wasn't packed with action but we can save that for later. I chose to show off Naruto in a different way this time. Enjoy and review if you did! I KNOW there's like a 100 people reading this… COME ON REVIEW! 100 REVIEWS LETS GO!


	6. It Never Rains

AN: Finally… the second part of the exams. Shall we begin? Don't forget to ask some questions if you have any! I LOVE REVIEWS! I'm telling you to review! Review replies are at the end.

…..

The woman known as Anko lead the group of genin outside. They had to walk for a long while giving the genin a chance to regroup with their team and talk about how they did on the test. She explained the gist of the next part of the exam while they walked though it was simple.

"We will give you one scroll," Anko explained. "It will either be an earth scroll or a heaven scroll. During the exam you must take the opposite scroll of yours from another team and make it to the center of the forest."

Naruto traded looks with Sai and Shiho.

"What about food?" Chouji asked while they were walking.

"In the forest there are lots of edible things. You just have to find them." She winked. "Make sure you don't pick poison mushrooms or anything by accident."

Chouji gulped and grabbed the straps of his backpack a little tighter, shooting a nervous look at his teammates. "What are we going to do," He muttered. "They all look so strong."

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru muttered beneath his breath.

"Let's just pick on a team weaker than us." Said Ino with a confident tone.

"There are no teams weaker than us…" Shikamaru replied.

Naruto was beginning to grow nervous. Finally the test was moving on to more exciting parts. He had been nervous in the classroom but that was because he thought he was going to fail. But not he was nervous for a different reason. He caught people giving him strange looks. Gaara, the one called Iko from Takigakure and Mumaru from Iwagakure no Sato. Those three were definitely on Naruto's list for people he'd have to be careful around. Even Kawasu was eyeing him differently. The blonde realized he had more enemies than he had known. He was now going to be locked up in a place with all these people that were out to get his heads.

Naruto looked at the seal that locked up his sword in his left palm. He held it for probably about two seconds before it was put away. He wondered what Mifune wanted to teach him. Was Mifune waiting for something to happen? Naruto was overcome by frustration. He really wanted to grip his sword and prove to everyone that he wasn't just talk. Sure people knew his strength but he had a feeling that fighting with disposable swords was not going to cut it from here on out. He had to figure out a way to summon his sword no matter what the cost.

If he wanted to protect his teammate that was.

He glanced at Sai. The boy ever since they started walking seemed to be torn between something. Naruto had a feeling he knew what Sai was concerned about but he didn't voice his opinion. He wanted Sai to look at the situation with his own eyes and make his own decisions. Therefore no matter what the consequences of his actions were the boy could look with no regrets. So Naruto turned away leaving Sai alone to his own struggles. He looked at Shiho who seemed nervous but determined.

"This!" Anko spread her arms wide. "Is the Forest of Death."

Naruto gazed upon the so called Forest of Death. It was huge to say the least, trees were taller than most of the buildings in Konoha. Not only that the forest canopy was so thick that he had no doubt that once they entered the place light would be scarce. It would literally be a cage of darkness filled with monsters, ninja and otherwise. He saw a few birds fly out from the top of the trees in the distance. He wasn't sure but he had a feeling they weren't normal birds. The forest was probably filled with dangerous beings and areas, poisonous mushrooms being the last of their worries. Naruto would be worried about staying alive long enough to get hungry in the first place. The blonde looked at the seal on his hand again becoming agitated.

"You will be in there for five days," Anko continued loving the looks on their faces. "Some of you will survive and some of you will die. I'll tell you this right now, there has never been a incidence of no casualty in this exam."

Shikamaru gulped. _"That means someone died every time they conducted this test…" _

"There are booths situated in each entrance." Anko finished her speech. "Go into the booth and sign the waiver. After that you will get your scroll. Be careful in there." She turned around as if to leave.

"Oh by the way, you," Anko pointed at the blonde. "I expect you to stay alive… I put big money on you. If you die I'll kill you. Understood?"

Naruto sighed. "Just my luck."

A kunai flew by his face faster than he could register. It left a long gash on his cheek with blood dripping down his face. He felt something warm lick his cheek and lap up the blood. He froze in fear never having encountered a situation like this before.

"I asked you if you understood?" Anko whispered while licking his blood.

"U-understood." Naruto stuttered. Anko backed up a satisfied smirk on her face. Naruto glared at the woman. _"The world is wide… I didn't see her move at all." _

Anko, satisfied that she had succeeded in creeping out the genin, turned around to leave once more when she felt another presence. She spun another kunai in hand when she realized it was the face of one of the genin. A shinobi from Kusagakure no Sato. He held the kunai that she'd thrown previous in his long tongue which crept her out. But the jounin managed to keep a neutral face.

"Your kunai," The kusa genin whispered in a slithering voice. Anko shuddered inside. "You dropped it… It cut off a few strands of my precious hair you see."

"Keep it." The jounin answered walking away. "Don't creep up on me like that again if you want to keep your tongue."

"Those should be my words." Naruto grunted and turned to his teammates. "Well then let's go."

As each of the teams began to be assigned an entrance and a booth the severity of the exam began to weigh on them. This was it, finally they would test not their book smarts but their street smarts. In the forest for five days locked up with shinobi from their own village and other villages. It was kill or be killed. Naruto saw a lot of genin throwing up and retching on the sides. He looked at Shiho. However Shiho had seen enough battle by now, through Yamato and with the Sound Ninja to grow used to situations like these. Yamato had thrown enough killing intent at them for them to get used to this. They knew dying was a possibility but they had confidence in their skills and each other. He saw other genin teams whispering among themselves and forming strategies.

Team 13 entered the booth where a chounin handed them a piece of paper to each of them, explaining that they had the possibility of dying. It asked them where they would like to be contacted if they ended up dying. Naruto didn't see what the others wrote down but he smiled as he wrote down his.

The Land of Iron.

"_I was born in the summer," _Naruto thought with irony. _"But I will rest in Winter." _

After they signed the forms… Team 13 entered the Forest of Death.

…..

The Sandaime watched the screen a smile on his lips. "Naruto… you've grown up well." He turned to the person who was watching the screen next to him. "Does he remind you of anyone?"

His partner, Danzo, remained silent. Sarutobi relented and gave into the silence as well, watching the blonde's antics in the classroom and his speech towards the other genin. He laughed as Naruto joked with his teammates. But most of all, the fact that Naruto wore the forehead protector around his neck and displayed it proudly, for some reason Sarutobi found immense pride and joy in that simple fact.

Though he did worry about the boy. He had seen Naruto's capabilities in his fight with Kakashi but he had forbidden Naruto to use any kenjutsu that could result in the boys' arms being hurt. He knew Naruto wouldn't follow the advice but he had reprimanded the boy nonetheless. He didn't want to see Naruto lose the use of his arms simply because he was stubborn.

"He reminds me of the Nidaime." Danzo whispered.

Sarutobi smiled. "Yes he does… doesn't he?"

"He jokes in the face of danger, spits in the presence of those stronger than him though they are rare," Danzo continued. "We has a quick mind aided by a silver tongue. He has strength to spare and allows emotion to reign control over his life. Passionate, ruthless, impulsive and loyal to his friends… he is like Tobimaru Senju reincarnate."

"Is this why you wanted me to come?"

Sarutobi shrugged. "Perhaps." His eyes turned sad. "Or perhaps I wanted to make things right once more."

"You are a fool Hokage-sama." Danzo got up from his seat and walked away from Sarutobi his back towards his old friend. "We are far too old to engage in talks like this. Things can never be right between us ever again."

"We are both of the same generation Danzo," The Sandaime lit a pipe. "We can never be made right again… but perhaps we can reach agreements so that the next generation can."

Danzo narrowed his eyes without turning around. "What do you mean?"

"The boy," Sarutobi breathed. "Release him."

Danzo remained silent.

"You are far too soft for your own good Sarutobi." Danzo whispered. "What do you wish to accomplish with that?"

"The boy is far too young to be used as a chess piece in this dangerous game that we are playing Danzo. This generation has not done anything… let us preserve their innocence for a bit longer. They will take the mantle soon enough. Grant the boy his freedom… and his happiness."

"He's seen too much of the world already." Danzo muttered. "It is too late."

"Danzo… it is too late for us. But it is not too late for them."

Danzo hesitated.

"_Sarutobi… you are always like this. You always assume the best of people and you put your faith and efforts into useless dreams. You are but an old fool placing his hopes in dreams long gone. The world is far too cold and far crueler than you know Sandaime…"_

"_but…" _Danzo glanced over his shoulder at the Sandaime who seemed satisfied, waiting for his answer. _"you always were." _

"Fine." Danzo answered. "Keep the boy… but I expect something in return."

Sarutobi tilted his head. "What do you want in exchange?"

"The Uzumaki boy."

The Sandaime started.

"For a month. Nothing more. Before the third part of the exams." Danzo interrupted, walking out and not giving Sarutobi the chance to speak. "If we are to have a jinchuuriki in the village I will have him trained properly in the shinobi arts, not in those damned forsaken barbarian skills."

Sarutobi sighed. _"What have I just done…" _

….

Team thirteen sat in a small clearing discussing what to do.

"The test is five days long." Naruto took out a shuriken and whirled it in his palm, handling the blade without sustaining a single cut.

"No you're wrong Naruto." Shiho answered.

"The test is shorter than five days." Sai finished. "Meaning that we can finish it long before the five days are up."

"Any ideas then?" Naruto threw the shuriken into the air and caught it mid flight as it dropped down between his index and middle finger, holding it like a chess piece. "I'll tell you this right now. The team from Suna, Iwa and Taki are off limits to us."

"W-why?" Shiho asked.

"Too strong." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I hate saying this but in a fight with one of those teams? Even if we do win we'll be in no condition to make it to the finish line."

"Agreed." Sai's smile was gone. He had his game face on, his eyes wide and his fae absolutely devoid of any emotion. "If we really want to… the weakest ones seemed to be the other Konoha Genin."

"Sai!" Shiho gasped.

"He's right. I'm going to have to agree with him on this one." Naruto began to spin the shuriken in his palm again. "If we're really desperate about winning… let's just take one of the konha genin out."

"But not the team with the eyebrows or the one with the flirt."

"He's talking about Lee and Kawasu." Naruto surmised. "I agree… Those guys are not normal. They're our equivalent of the foreign shinobi in my opinion."

"Naruto do you have access to your sword yet?" Shiho fidgeted looking this way and that. Ever since they entered the forest she'd been growing more and more nervous. She felt as if a battle could break out at any moment.

"No." the blonde looked at her in the eye forcefully. "Relax Shiho… nobody knows we're here yet. Besides with the exception of a few teams, I don't think the rest poses any real threat to us."

Shiho stopped fidgeting and dropped the stick.

Sai bent down picked the stick up and threw it on the ground. He covered the hole with dirt. After he finished making the whole thing look natural he gave her a smile. "Can't have people tracking us."

Shiho bit her lower lip.

"Fist let's calm down." Naruto sat down on a log. "We have time. Right now the only information we have in our arsenal is information about other teams." He pointed at Shiho. "Shiho go."

Sai smiled. _"I see… by having the girl display her strong points and rattle off knowledge it puts her mind off of the matter at hand." _

"Um… Team 10 is composed of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino. Their strength lies in their techniques being able to be used in conjunction. The Nara clan supposedly uses a jutsu that can immobilize the enemy. Same as Yamanaka though I heard that hers is more used to disrupt the enemy. Chouji is the heavy hitter on that team." Shiho took a breath. "Team 7 is probably the strongest so far. Kurama Kawasu is seriously talented in genjutsu like there's no tomorrow. If someone gets caught in a genjutsu no matter how good their chakra control is I heard that the chances of escaping it are slim. Then there's Sasuke. I heard from Sakura-chan that he managed to awaken his doujutsu the Sharingan in the last mission. That'll be hard to defeat. As for Sakura… I don't think she has any combat abilities to really speak of."

"What about the other teams?" Naruto prodded. "The green suit?"

"Oh yes them." Shiho closed her eyes as if straining to remember something. "Um… the whole team are taijutsu specialists. Hyuuga Neji was the rookie of the year. He's a Hyuuga meaning that he possesses the byakugan. I don't think we can sneak up on them right now. Same with team 8. They have the boy with the dog. They'll smell us coming a mile away."

Shiho paused. "Naruto… I really don't think we should go after someone from our own village. It'll give us a bad name. Besides… it's not right."

"Ok we won't then." Naruto waved a hand his initial object accomplished. "I already have a plan."

Shiho tilted her head to the side. "What's the plan?"

"Right now," Naruto whispered motioning for his teammates to get closer to him. "Other teams have probably split up to gather information or to gather supplies to last the five days. Do you get it? They are split up right now. Now is the time to pick them off one by one. We can find one and just let them lead us back to their team. By doing that we'll be able to ambush a team if it works out well."

"You're missing something Naruto." Sai looked around, making sure that they weren't being spied upon. "We have no idea of knowing which scroll they hold. We hold the Earth scroll. We need a heaven scroll."

"True…" Naruto answered. "Any better ideas?"

"Split up like the other teams." Sai answered. "If you see someone isolated, gather info. At the first sign of danger we should retreat though. This goes double for you Naruto."

The blonde nodded. "And in the process we might find some other team in the middle of battle. It'll be easy pickings."

"Good then." She looked at the others. "It's settled?"

Naruto dropped a shuriken which stabbed itself into the soil. "Meet back here by the end of the day… go."

Sai and Shino vanished without a trace both of them going in separate directions.

Naruto stood up and channeled chakra into his legs jumping onto the nearest branch and using it as a foothold to jump onto another. He began to build up momentum as he continued on his way, making sure not to leave a trail that lead straight back to him.

There were countless situations that were running through the blonde's head. He played out each one, using his knowledge of the person's quirks, style of speech and dress code to figure out their personalities. Using their personalities he was able to play each situation, no matter who he met, in a little faux simulation. He knew that by now most of the shinobi that were confident of their individual skills would have split up by now. The weaker teams would most likely stick together to lessen the chance of them being picked off. That meant that no matter who he met, it wouldn't be easy to get a scroll. If he met a weak team, all three of them would be together meaning that he would have to fight all three of them at once. If he met a shinobi that was alone he would have to fight someone who was strong enough to travel on his own.

Naruto made a list of the people whom he considered to be dangerous. There was Gaara whose abilities he had no idea about. But the look in his eyes were definitely that of a killer. Naruto knew that if they met here without anyone to watch them, any fight with that boy would be to the death. There was Mumaru from Iwagakure. Though last time Naruto had managed to grab a hasty victory he never did get to test out what that jutsu did. From what he saw of Mumaru's expression though the jutsu was most likely was equivalent to death. Then there was the mysterious Takigakure Genin. Each one of them seemed to have their own arsenal of power. He could tell from the way they carried themselves that they had confidence in their skills.

Kawasu was a dangerous individual as well. While Naruto wasn't really aware of the extent of the boys' talents, he would be a fool to dismiss him. Just because Kawasu acted like he was a fool who was only looking for didn't mean he was one. Anyone who knew how to look below the surface would find a cocky personality tempered with training. Naruto wondered how Kawasu was facing this test.

That left very few targets for the blonde. Shiho had made it clear that other Konoha genin teams were off limits. That left only foreign shinobi. Naruto squinted his eyes trying to remember. There was a team from the Hidden Village of the Grass. If he remembered correctly there was a team from the rain and mist as well. Then there was a team from the sound, the one that had attacked the konoha genin a few years above them. Naruto did some math in his head. If they took too long in getting a scroll from foreign shinobi there would be none left. There was an abundance of konoha shinobi in this exam and they would be ripe pickings. It would be a miracle to have all of them pass.

Naruto flipped forward his hand going into the holster on his thigh and throwing three shuriken behind him. While upside down he formed hand seals for the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creating dozens of more shuriken. The air hummed and then broke in a cacophony of noise as the shuriken stabbed themselves into trees, the numbers enough to even dislodge a branch here and there. The blonde, while upside down, flipped sideways multiple times in the air so that he landed on his feet on the ground. Despite falling a dozen feet Naruto did not show any discomfort, using chakra to soften the impact. He already had four more shuriken in his hand which he threw.

His assailant blocked them while holding a kunai in reverse grip. He seemed unhurt by Naruto's initial attack. He was glaring at Naruto bandages covering the lower part of his face.

"You just turn more and more like a mummy every time we meet." Naruto lowered his stance, taking out more shuriken from his holster.

Mumaru didn't reply, lowering his stance and holding the kunai closer to his body.

"I don't want to face off against you here." The blonde held the shuriken in between his right hands fingers. His left hand was behind his back. "So why don't I go my own way and you go yours?"

Naruto turned his head sideways and bit the kunai that Mumaru threw at him by the handle.

"I guess that's a no." Naruto's voice came out muffled through the kunai. _"I don't have a sword. I'm going to have to play dirty on this one." _

Mumaru threw out two more kunai throwing it towards Naruto's head. Naruto threw two shuriken knocking them out of the air only to find that there was a third kunai behind the first two. Naruto swung his head using the kunai that was in his mouth to deflect it. Naruto's eyes widened when Mumaru appeared right in front of him, the sword from his back in his hand. Naruto leaned backwards, allowing Mumaru's bandaged sword to sail above him harmlessly. The blonde twisted his head once more leaving a shallow cut on Mumaru's wrist with the kunai that he was still biting onto.

Mumaru, if he felt anything, didn't show it on his face. Then again his face was bandaged up to his nose. Mumaru continued with the swing and dug into the ground with his sword, using it as footing to kick Naruto on the chin with both feet. Naruto flew backwards, somersaulting with one hand and throwing shuriken with the other. He skidded across the ground on his feet and formed hand seals for the Shuriken Kage Bunshin creating a storm of shuriken. Mumaru jumped upwards dodging the torrent of shuriken and looked backwards. The shuriken acted like beams of steel, bringing down one of the gigantic trees of the forest.

"_Just how many shuriken did he make…" _Mumaru thought as he landed on the ground again. He sheathed his sword behind him again and gathered his hands in front of him. "I practiced this technique day and night just for you Naruto… **Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu.**" A transparent cube came to life in Mumaru's hand with a brightly lit sphere in the center.

It flew towards Naruto at an unbelievable speed. The blonde forced all the chakra into his legs to barely dodge it in time. Naruto could not believe the resulting explosion. The cube seemed to simply blow up, obliterating everything in its blast radius, throwing up dust and debris. Naruto watched with wide eyes until the dust cleared revealing a large crater in the shape of a cube with nothing there. There was no sign of burnt grass. There was a rock revealed that was missing one fourth of a cube, its shape perfectly square.

"_If that hits me… I'm dead." _Naruto swallowed and looked at Mumaru. _"This is getting dangerous" _

Mumaru breathed. _"Three more. My limit is three more. I need to get him with one of those." _

Naruto leaped away from Mumaru forming hand seals. A shadow clone appeared next to him with a puff of smoke. The clone formed the hand seals for a Henge no Jutsu transforming in to a large three bladed shuriken. Each blade was about four feet long and when Naruto grabbed it by the ring Mumaru saw Naruto straining himself as he threw it towards Mumaru. The shuriken flew, cutting through the air, buzzing like an insect. Naruto formed more hand seals multiplying the shuriken into dozens of dozens, possibly hundreds of ten feet long whirring blades of destruction.

Mumaru had no time to prepare.

The shuriken were a wave of death, mowing down trees and rocks alike. There were so many shuriken that if someone was watching from afar it looked like tiny meteor or raindrops except it wasn't falling from the sky. The destruction radius was impossibly large for someone to comprehend and anything caught in the wave was reduced to nothing more than rubble. It was a storm of metal promising death for anything that stood in its way.

When the sounds of tree falling and rocks crumbling ended silence reigned.

Naruto was panting from the extensive chakra use. He was holding the shoulder of his right arm with his left hand. The shuriken had been heavy enough so that he had tore something when he threw it. But as usual his abnormally fast regeneration kicked in and he felt the familiar numbness before it returned to normal. The blonde looked for Mumaru.

Mumaru's torso exploded out of the ground a few feet away from Naruto, his palms stretched towards him that damned cube pointed at him. Naruto's hands immediately flew into hand seals creating a dozen clones in front of him. Mumaru fired his technique, the cube soaring towards Naruto. Naruto's clones transformed with a puff of smoke in a single file line each of them turning into a eight bladed shuriken resembling shields. The cube mowed through eight of them before exploding, sucking up everything and destroying anything remotely near it. The rest of the clone shields disappeared from the resulting shockwave as debris flew out piercing them.

Naruto stood across from Mumaru, his arms crossed in front of him. Mumaru came out of the ground forcing himself up with his arms. He drew the sword from his back and rushed towards the blonde once more. Naruto took out shuriken and put them between his fingers and blocked the sword strike with them, the shuriken acting as brass knuckles. The two genin tried to overpower the other to no avail, getting a good look at the other ones wounds.

Naruto had a line of blood coming out from the corner of his mouth. Both of his arms were bleeding from a multitude of tiny cuts from the debris of the explosion. His legs had their pant sleeves ripped away. The blonde still fought on gritting his teeth as more blood poured out from his mouth.

Mumaru had a large gash on his chest that he had sustained when dodging the wave of shuriken. There were two other large gash on his other arm which was bleeding profusely. Mumaru legs seemed to have sustained no damage though when Naruto glanced down they were shaking with fatigue. Mumaru seized that moment and head butted the blonde. Naruto rolled backwards throwing a few shuriken towards Mumaru as he did so. Mumaru blocked a few of them with his sword but one of them got through and left a long gash on the side of his cheek, the IWa Genin barely dodging the throw. Naruto landed on his feet bleeding from his forehead.

Hands exploded out of the ground and gripped his ankles, making him fall forward.

"What the hell!" Naruto screamed but it was too late.

Mumaru had already formed another cube in his outstretched palms. "I hid that clone while I was in the ground. I was looking for an opportunity like this." He didn't even take the time to sheathe his sword, instead he had thrown it at the side afraid he would lose the moment. Mumaru didn't spend the next moments talking or gloating, instead he fired the cube eager to defeat the blonde.

The cube swallowed Naruto who had his arms crossed in front of him. Naruto's eyes widened as the sphere began to glow.

"_Oh shit… I'm dead."_

…

Ino watched the battle her eyes wide.

"Ino," Shikamaru warned. "We have to get out of here. We're way out of our league on this one. Both of them are ridiculous monsters. We have to get out of here."

"Shikamaru!" Ino chided in a furious whisper. "Are you stupid? If one of them defeats the other we can take out the other one and take his scroll!"

"What makes you so sure one of them has the scroll?" The lazy genin asked.

"Because of how strong they are! Just like how I have our scroll the strongest of the teams should be holding the scroll!"

"_That's how you lose." _Shikamaru did not voice this. "Ino… even if they do each other in I don't think even us three combined will be enough to take one of them out." He gulped. "Besides did you see their attacks? I've never seen shuriken that big that were thrown… if either of their attacks come our way we'll be dead. Forget about scrolls Ino we could die from this."

Chouji nodded. "Ino… this is a really bad idea. Just standing here is dangerous. I mean what if Naruto wins?"

"If Naruto wins there might be a chance that kid is holding a scroll that he doesn't need and that we need." Ino muttered. "Look guys there's a chance for us to get something without losing anything! Man up and keep watching this battle!"

"_What's Naruto going to say when we conveniently appear just when he finishes fighting?" _Shikamaru thought. _"What if he takes our scroll instead? I have a feeling he might be able to." _

Chouji's eyes widened. "Um… Ino…"

Ino snapped her gaze back to the battle and gasped.

The sphere engulfed Naruto who had his arms crossed.

"Naruto," Shikamaru whispered. He turned to Ino. "we have to save him!"

"It's too late baka!" Ino screamed. "It's EXPLODING RIGHT NOW!"

…

Mumaru saw the cube explode with Naruto in it.

He turned around and picked up his sword, putting it back into its sheath on his back. He closed his eyes in respect. "A worthy opponent. You were strong Uzumaki Naruto. Impossibly so. If I had not killed you here you would no doubt have become a danger to Iwagakure and the other ninja villages. I have just saved you from a lifetime of war and ninja deception. You should be thanking me."

"Good-bye Naruto." Mumaru staggered a bit as he took a step. He didn't bother to go and retrieve the scroll. His Dust Release technique would have obliterated the being known as Naruto and anything he had on him. Mumaru gathered chakra into his legs to leap away.

Something cold touched the back of his neck.

Mumaru stiffened.

Naruto stood behind Mumaru his clothes reduced to mere rags. He was breathing heavily and blood covered his whole entire body. The blonde was hunched over, his mouth open and blood dripping to the ground and staining the grass. One arm hung limply at his side but the other one had grabbed the back of Mumaru's neck.

"H-how…" Mumaru whispered.

Naruto didn't answer. Rather with a strength that shocked everyone he picked up Mumaru by his neck and flipped him over towards the other side, crushing him onto the ground head first. Mumaru struggled until everything spun around him. Naruto lifted him up and threw him sideways this time throwing him against a tree. Mumaru went through the tree, a dozen splinters as long as two feet long lodging themselves in his back. The boy landed on the ground with a little puff of dust. He groaned and tried to pick himself up.

Naruto let out a primal scream striking fear into the heart of Mumaru, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru. It was a fear not from strength but something from instincts. It was a hereditary fear, something that made little kids fear the dark, something that made people beware of beasts and something that made men still shiver when they were alone.

Naruto pushed the back of Mumaru's head, pushing his face back into the dirt once more. His other arm began to twitch as it began to heal. The blonde lifted up Mumaru's head once more before slamming it back towards the ground again. He repeated this process three more times until Mumaru stopped struggling and went limp underneath his grip.

Something slammed into him from the side.

Naruto saw red at the edge of his visions as he hit the ground. Pain exploded through his body in crippling waves that spread from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. Naruto arched his back as the wounds on his body touched dirt, still raw and sensitive. His regeneration factor had not kicked in yet. He knew he would have to wait awhile before it healed him enough so that it didn't hurt at the slightest contact.

But he didn't have time.

"Mumaru!" He barely registered the voice as belonging to Kurotsuchi the girl from Iwa.

"_Oh yeah… I was fighting that Iwa kid… Mumaru… what happened again? I was in that cube and then… oh upsie daisie." _Naruto felt himself being dragged on the ground and lifted up into the air by his neck, slowly chocking him. The blonde tried in vain to escape but only served to struggle feebly his arms barely listening to him. When his vision focused Naruto saw the usually smiling Akatsuchi holding him with one arm. His smile was gone replaced by a red visage of rage incarnate.

"Kurotsuchi," the giant said in a deceptively calm voice. "How's Mumaru?"

"He's alive." The kunoichi replied. "He has a concussion though and several lacerations and bruising. I don't think our medical pouch is going to cut it."

"I see." Akatsuchi's gaze never turned away from Naruto. "Now… what should I do with this kid…"

Naruto smirked. "I-I suggest you let me go." He choked out.

Akatsuchi's eyes reddened as well. Naruto didn't know that was possible unless the person had a doujutsu.

"I-I'm going to hurt y-you.. b-b-badly." His hands reached up and held onto Akatsuchi's wrist.

"You're half dead." Akatsuchi began to choke tighter. "Give it your best shot."

"_Don't need to hear that twice." _Naruto thought. Then he smiled at Akatsuchi who looked shocked that the blonde could smile in that situation. Just as he was about to say something he was attacked.

Naruto kicked Akatsuchi right in the balls.

The giant ninja's eyes bulged out and his hands instinctively went towards his genitals, his face turning redder than before if that was possible. Naruto landed on his feet and using that moment of weakness he swept his feet sideways toppling the ninja. He didn't expect Kurotsuchi to attack him while leaving the vulnerable Mumaru alone. But he did expect Akatsuchi to recover soon enough and this time forgo the gloating. Naruto turned on his heel channeling chakra to leap away in one bound.

Akatsuchi's giant hand reached out and grabbed his ankle.

Naruto jumped about two inches off of the ground before Akatsuchi flicked his wrist, using inhumane strength to slam the genin back onto the ground. Naruto flipped in midair, allowing pain to flood his back once more at the expense of getting a clear shot at Akatsuchi's wrist with his shuriken. Akatsuchi didn't want to let go but it was a matter of physical anatomy, something Naruto knew a bit about. Akatsuchi's fingers lost blood and went numb as blood poured out of his wrist. Naruto leaped away throwing a few shuriken to knock Kurotsuchi's kunai out of the air.

Akatsuchi, while on the ground, stopped groping his balls long enough to form a few hand seals opening his mouth. A hand grabbed the corners of his mouth and the familiar golem from before pulled itself out looking at Naruto with red eyes. It roared once before chasing after the blonde.

Naruto skidded backwards throwing a few shuriken towards the golem. _"My legs won't move…" _

The shuriken sunk into the golem's rock hard exterior. Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes. _"He pierced the golems hard exterior with a shuriken despite his injuries… this guy becomes more and more amazing by the second." _

The golem reached Naruto who remained stationary and raised its arms gathered into a hammer fist. It lowered it towards the blonde with a furious roar.

Just when Kurotsuchi thought Naruto was going to splattered on the ground like a piece of pancake the blonde disappeared in a blur at the last second, appearing behind the golem. He formed hand seals in the blink of an eye creating dozens of clones around him, each of them as bloody and weakened as he was.

"He's going to created a diversion and escape Akatsuchi!" Kurotsuchi warned.

Akatsuchi began to form hand seals.

Instead the clones dog piled the golem, punching, as feeble as they were, and kicking as hard as they could. However the clones were so weak that when they hit the rock hard exterior they turned into puffs of smoke. A few of the clones threw shuriken towards the golem which sunk into the golem which roared. Akatsuchi touched his hand on the ground and the very earth trembled right before the area where the clones were waging war against the golem was pierced with giant spikes. The golem roared as it melted away into mud, a spear in its chest. Clones that were stabbed through with the earth puffed out of existence into little smoke.

Nothing remained.

Kurotsuchi's eyes widened. "What the hell…"

Akatsuchi stared his mouth wide open. "How did he…"

"E-enough…" said a weak voice. Kurotsuchi turned back to Mumaru. "L-leave him alone… he doesn't have a scroll…"

Kurotsuchi's expression turned ugly. "But he did this to you Mumaru!" she snarled looking at the area of spikes. "We have to kill him for-"

"No." Mumaru coughed, blood spilling out of his mouth. "I-I… c-c-c-challenged him f-first…" Then his eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious again. Kurotsuchi growled and held Mumaru close to her.

"Akatsuchi!" She yelled. "Let's get out of here. We're not going to find him and if another team finds us here… come on."

The two vanished from the area.

After a few minutes Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji came to survey the battle. It looked like a warzone, shuriken littering the area, spikes of ground, craters hewn in the earth and trees that were more than five stories tall toppled as if they were trees. Ino went to the crater where Naruto was directly hit by the Jinton technique. She covered her mouth with both hands when she saw the amount of blood that stained the ground.

"_How was he still standing…" _

"I-Ino!" Chouji yelled.

Ino turned around and her eyes went white with shock.

One of the shuriken had puffed into smoke and revealed the blonde, still covered in blood from head to toe.

Yet he was on his feet.

Shikamaru and Chouji backed up immediately ready to fight. Ino came up from behind them shaking with fear. The three traded glances and then looked at the blonde who stared right at them with those blue eyes of his.

He was bloodied, most likely out of chakra and pushed to his mental and physical limits.

But they had a feeling they were going to lose.

"_W-what's up with this pressure…" _Shikamaru gulped. _"Why am I… scared of a half dead genin like him…" _

Naruto took a step forward.

They froze.

It wasn't that they wanted to freeze their bodies simply refused to listen to them.

For the next ten minutes they were subjected to mental torture as Naruto took step after step, coming closer and closer to them. Finally after having reached them the blonde kept on walking, ignoring them and continuing to walk past them, leaving a trail of blood on the ground. The three remained silent, completely rendered immobile and powerless by the sheer pressure that the blonde was exuding. Finally when the noise of his feet being dragged on the ground stopped the three of them all fell down, sweat covering them from head to toe.

"I-If we attacked him.." Shikamaru muttered. "He would have killed us for sure."

"But he was h-half dead." Stuttered Ino. But somewhere deep inside she had a feeling that Shikamaru was correct.

Chouji fainted.

"C-CHOUJI!" Shikamaru and Ino screamed rushing to the aid of their teammate.

…

Sai paused. _"Naruto… something's wrong with Naruto." _He paused as a bird made of ink came fluttering towards him. He held out a finger as the bird landed on it. Sai closed his eyes absorbing the information that the bird had provided him. "I see… thank you friend." Sai smiled as he dispelled the jutsu, the bird being carried away as waves of dried ink.

Sai leaped down from the branch that he had been sitting on landing on the ground safely. He dusted his pants wondering what to do with the information he had just gotten. His little bird (quite literally) had just told him that Sasuke's team was doing fine gathering supplies and what not. Sai decided to go and look for the Takigakure Genin and perhaps secure a scroll for them. It wouldn't be too hard he decided. He just had to find a random genin team, attack them with his lions and have one of them steal the scroll. Then he'd confront the Takigakure team and pretend to drop the scroll. The problem was that he had no way of knowing what type of scroll the Takigakure team had.

"_I guess I'll just have to get both." _Sai sighed and scratched the back of his head then paused realizing that it was a habit of Naruto's that he had picked up. He forced himself to stop and leaned on the tree waiting for more of his beasts to return to him. _"Uchiha Sasuke is fine… so I'll go and check on the Takigakure team. The last time they reported to me… they were going towards the east. I should be able to catch up with them." _

Sai looked at the sky. _"I'm not going to make it there by the end of the day… Shiho and Naruto are going to get worried… well they're strong enough to handle themselves on their own." _Sai prepared to leap away when he sensed three presences.

He narrowed his eyes. "Come out… I know you're there."

"Not bad." Three genin that Sai had seen earlier appeared, seemingly coalescing from the muddy ground. They were wearing full body suits and face masks. Besides the hair Sai couldn't tell them apart. That didn't matter though, Sai could roughly tell how strong these were by the quality of their chakra.

"_Ame shinobi," _Sai thought. _"Looks like my work was cut in half for me." _Sai plastered his smile and faced them. "How can I help you?"

"You can give us your scroll," One of them said with a laugh. The other two began to inch away from him, surrounding Sai. Sai noted this but did not bother to comment.

"What if I don't have it? My other teammate has the scroll." He shrugged trying to appear as friendly as possible.

"Then we'll just kill you… less competition is better for us after all." The three genin traded looks activating their genjutsu and appearing to multiply right before Sai's eyes.

"I hate incompetent people." Sai whispered and then looked at them.

Killing intent filled the area.

Sai appeared right in front of the first one, his tanto already out of its scabbard. Sai seemed to be walking on air as he simply walked past the genin. The other two watched, helpless, as their friends head rolled on the ground towards their feet. Sai waved his arms and tendrils of black shadow exploded out of the ground, surrounding the two remaining genin. They attempted to rip it apart but the ends of the tendrils suddenly grew heads and fangs, hissing at them before biting them. They screamed in pain and fear as numbness began to spread.

Sai sighed watching the three genin in front of him that were frowning and seemed to be experiencing a nightmare. He had cast a simple genjutsu on them as soon as he knew that they had been watching him. The ROOT member rummaged around their belongings until he found what he was looking for. Sai poked a pressure spot on each of their necks, giving them an escape from the genjutsu and putting them to sleep. Sai kneeled watching them for a bit a satisfied smile on his face.

"_I'm getting soft." _

….

Shiho waited for her teammates.

She had seen nothing that was noteworthy. She had seen a team of mist genin that was walking around looking for people to hunt. She had managed to keep herself from getting detected and she got a pretty good estimate of their strength before she left. The kunoichi was fairly sure that if she, Sai and Naruto attacked them at the same time it would not be too hard to overcome them. Shiho had one dangerous encounter when the boy called Neji saw her. She didn't give him a chance to say anything, using her jutsu to escape before he could make up his mind on what to do. It was imperative that Shiho stay out of reach of the enemy.

She had the scroll after all.

She looked at the shuriken on the ground picking it up and making sure it was Naruto's. She looked at the sun which was well on its way to setting. In a few minutes light would disappear and night would reign the forest. Shiho really did not want to be alone when that happened. She debated with herself whether she should start a fire or not. She decided against it not liking what the light and warmth might attract during the darkness.

She waited a few more minutes for her teammates worries beginning to cloud her mind. _"Naruto and Sai are strong… possibly the strongest of our year. They'll be ok." _Her thoughts went to the people that Naruto had named. Gaara from Suna, Kawasu from Konoha and the Iwa team. Not to mention the team of hidden strength, the three genins from Takigakure no Sato. Shiho shook her head trying to shake away the grip that the doubts had on her mind as well. _"They're fine. I have to believe in that." _

Shiho pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose from force of nervous habit. She looked at the shuriken again. _"Naruto's always late anyways. I'm sure he's fine." _

Shiho waited a few more minutes.

The sun set and darkness washed over the forest.

The girl nodded to herself. _"I can't wait here anymore." _

She forced herself to think that Naruto and Sai were both ok. There must have been a good reason for them being late. For now Shiho would have to find a hiding spot close enough to this meeting spot to know when they got here. They weren't stupid, they would know that she would have visited this place. Just in case though Shiho dropped a kunai next to the shuriken. It was a running joke among them that Naruto never used kunai. The blonde told him that it was because it was like a small version of a sword and they had handles which were not nearly as useful as the sword. He preferred shuriken saying that they looked cool.

Shiho looked around the clearing once more before leaping away wondering just where and what her teammates were doing.

…..

Naruto was trapped in darkness.

He tried to swim, he tried to walk and he even tried to fly. The blonde couldn't feel himself moving no matter what. He had no sense of direction in this place and no sense of movement. The blonde finally did what he hated to do, opting to wait instead of waste his energy like this. He wondered if this was a genjutsu that was cast on him by the enemy. However he was not sure if it was because it didn't feel like one. He wondered if Kawasu, the self proclaimed Genjutsu Prince finally got him while he wasn't looking. He doubted it. One had to be conscious for a genjutsu to work.

The last thing he remembered was kicking Akatsuchi in the balls then transforming into a shuriken. He felt like he was missing a lot of the details in between but it wasn't important. For some reason he thought he saw a yellow pineapple that smelled suspiciously a lot like potato chips. Naruto tilted his head deciding to figure out what that image in his head meant first. The first thing came to his mind when he thought about yellow was his own hair. Pineapple reminded him of someone but he wasn't sure. The potato chips… he preferred ramen to pineapple.

Thinking of ramen brought memories of the Land of Iron. When it got ridiculously cold so that their breath frosted over long before it ever left their throats Takezo always took him to this local shop that served the hottest and best ramen in the Land of Iron. It didn't matter how far they were from it, they were wanderers by trade anyways. Naruto remembered those days fondly always moving, staying in cold mountains and training day and night. He remembered Takezo trying to drill into him the virtue called patience. Even the great samurai Musashi gave up. But he had gave Naruto the patience to wait for something at least. Takezo used to refer Naruto to a dog.

Naruto sighed a smile on his lips.

He realized that he was floating, his arms folded behind his head and his legs crossed lying down as if he was at the beach.

"**We finally meet." **

The blonde startled and the world spun before him.

He was in front of a cage, bigger than anything he had ever seen before. The only thing bigger he could think of was a mountain. But mountains got bigger gradually as you climbed it. This cage stretched straight up, so far into the black sky that he didn't know where it ended. The same went for the room. It stretched wider than anything else, darkness covering the horizon. Naruto looked around himself but from what he could see it was a flat plain of darkness, the endless row of bars stopping himself from going further in. However when he examined the bars closely they were large enough for him to walk through. He tilted his head to the side reaching out a hand to touch it.

He almost died.

A claw, bigger than the claw of any beast Naruto's seen in his life, rushed out of the cage trying to impale Naruto. The blonde leaned back at the last second and the tip of the claw stopped right before it hit his eye. Naruto felt himself sweating suddenly as something ungodly and evil began to fill the area.

Naruto took a step back, hugging himself.

There was something big in the cage.

Not just big… but evil.

Two red eyes opened.

"**Nice to meet you at last," **The mouth that it spoke with was ugly, dark blue lips and tongue lolling through its bloody fangs. **"My host." **

"W-who are you?" Naruto whispered.

"**This is the first time you've been close enough to death to access the space in between. In between life and death." **It seemed to smile and its eyes curved.

It sickened Naruto.

"**That's why we finally meet my host… because we are finally at the same place." **He seemed to press closer to the bars, its eye becoming bigger. Naruto realized that the creature was much larger than he had imagined it to be. **"Now now… no need to be scared of me. I'm not going to hurt you." **

"You just tried to pluck my eye out you animal." Naruto quipped then realizing that he had just insulted a beast that could kill him with a single stroke of its paw the blonde stopped.

"**Heh heh heh… a test… I hope you do know whatever happens in here is reflected in the real world." **He savored each word as if they were a piece of juicy steak.

Naruto didn't really want to know what type of meat this guy enjoyed.

"**Who knows… maybe me plucking out your eye would make you stronger mmm?" **

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"I gain strength of my own accord. Nothing more, nothing less." He found his backbone again. "Who are you and where am I? Answer me."

"**My my… so many questions," **The beasts pupils rolled upwards as if it was thinking. Naruot saw the outline of a claw scratching what seemed to be its chin. **"Don't worry though we have a lot of time for those. As for power… I'll give you a gift for finding me here." **

It's eyes narrowed. **"Your sword… once you get back to the real world you'll be able to summon when you wish for it." **

"W-what?" Naruto gasped. "Who _are _you?"

"**Someone who shares the same goals." **It closed its eyes. **"Just know… that together we could rule this world." **

"**Or burn it as you see fit." **

Naruto shuddered.

There was so much hate, so much loathing and malice in the voice that it seemed to creep right down the blonde's spine. He closed his eyes trying to block out the emotion but it seemed to roll off of the being in rolling waves. It was simply who it was and simply by being who it was it made those near him feel the same thing he was.

He wasn't a monster.

He was hate, loathing and malice itself.

Whatever it was… it was evil.

Not a monster turned evil.

It _was _evil.

Naruto shuddered and opened his eyes again to see the monster studying him.

"**You see me for what I am… most took years before they came to the conclusion that you did my host." **

"Are you me?" Naruto asked in a whisper.

"**No… I am simply in you. There's a difference." **The demon cocked its head to the side. **"Let me ask you something… are you scared of me?" **

Naruto shook his head, his eyes clear. "Not of you."

"Of what you could do to me if I let you."

The being laughed, shaking the ground.

Then it rushed up against the cage again, snarling so low that Naruto felt the vibration set his head abuzz.

"**You should fear me mortal," **The demon spat those words like a curse. **"How dare you look at me like I'm some common beast in a cage? I assure you that the only thing that stands in between me and you are these bars. Without these bars I could have crushed you with my chakra alone. Seeing my true form would have shattered that pathetic thing you mortals call a soul. You can thank-"**

"Shut the fuck up."

The demon's eyes went wide, livid with rage.

"You're in my mind," Naruto snarled back just as angry. "My body, _my _soul. You will not speak to me that way like I'm some common vermin." He spat.

"I'm your _host. _You belong to me and I keep you in here." He cocked his head to the side. "I won't let you push me around inside of my own body like I'm some nobody punk. You think the cage keeps you from hurting me?" He stabbed a finger in the demon's direction.

Naruto's blue eyes turned shades lighter the ocean freezing underneath the weight of his rage.

"The cage keeps me from hurting _you._" Naruto finished breathing heavily.

The demon froze seeming to study Naruto.

Then it laughed.

"**You are the most amusing host I have ever had the pleasure of meeting." **It narrowed its eyes. **"I can tell we will get along just fine… now away mortal. We will have time to speak later." **

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but darkness consumed him once more rendering him unconscious.

…

Naruto awoke with the most unbelievable headache.

The blonde groaned and found that he was sitting upright leaning against a tree. He tried to get up when the world spun around him. Giving it time he sat there and waited for his vision to focus again checking the condition of his body and trying to gauge where he was. He was at a deeper part of the forest and the sun was rising again which meant that he'd spent the night here. It was a miracle that he'd slept here and had not been found by any enemy ninja or been eaten by some predator.

"_My body's all healed." _Thought the blonde and he got up ignoring his bodies' protest. He twitched his fingers to make sure they were all working. He checked his body. His clothing was ruined and covered in dried blood but his body was completely fine, all the cuts and bruises having been healed. Naruto looked at his wounds quizzically. Sure he healed fast but last he remembered the wounds should have kept him commission out for at least a day. He'd never healed this fast before.

The blonde gathered chakra into his legs, leaping upwards and landing on one of the branches. He jumped onto another and continued to do so until he was at the top and he could see where he was. It was a futile gesture though, the forest was covered in trees and no matter which direction he looked in it was futile. Naruto could not tell where he had come from or where he had the battle with Mumaru and his team which was the last thing that he remembered. The blonde prepared to leap down again when he noticed that the forest was peaceful and for the first time in a long time Naruto had the chance to enjoy it.

So the blonde stayed for a moment longer enjoying the scenery. He pushed his dream out of his mind.

He'd meditate on that later.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Naruto nodded. "I appreciate you not attacking me right away."

Kawasu laughed. "I never thought I'd find you in a place like this." He disappeared in a blur and appeared next to Naruto a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Are you ready?"

Naruto blurred as soon as Kawasu made contact, spinning around and slashing behind him with his hand. Kawasu leaped away and landed on a branch of a different tree a faint smile on his lips. Naruto leaped away as well sticking sideways on a different tree.

No he wasn't sticking sideways.

The world simply appeared that way.

"_No way," _thought Naruto with shock evident on his face. _"When he touched my shoulder just now…" _Naruto closed his eyes and gathered his hands together. "Kai." He muttered. When he opened his eyes again the world was upright once more.

"If you have hesitated a second more," Kawasu, the heir of the Kurama clan, the Prince of Genjutsu muttered. "I would have had you under my full control."

"As expected of someone I'm interested in…" Kawasu licked his lips.

"You caught me at a bad time." Naruto stood his body straight his left palm facing the right. He began to channel chakra into it and the seal on his palm began to glow.

Naruto appeared next to Kawasu, his sword in his hand. The sword was still in its scabbard. Unlike other katana it was set completely straight. The guard looked like the three bladed shuriken that Naruto favored so much. Kawasu noticed right away that the sword was longer than a lot of other swords, reaching almost five feet long. The blonde held it by the scabbard in a reverse grip and it was touching the back of Kawasu's neck.

"Let's see what's stronger, your genjutsu," Naruto whispered. "Or my kenjutsu."

AN: End! REVIEW! Getting exciting isn't it?

HunterAzrael: Yes I do.

NarutoLuver896: Just getting some friendly Jounin competition. (:

Kirizo: Did not know that. Thanks!

Also… I mistakenly wrote Inoichi Ino instead of Yamanaka. I read the chapter in Live Preview and I thought something was strange… sorry about that.

Bowtechsniper: Your review made me laugh… like for real roll on the floor laughter. Touché my friend.

As for pairings… if I sense chemistry I guess.


	7. It Pours

AN: This chapter is a pain…

…..

Naruto flicked his wrist backwards. The scabbard that was touching the back of Kawasu's neck swung forward. Kawasu moved with the blow immediately ducking forward and flicking his wrist at the same time throwing a kunai towards the blonde. Naruto continued the turn with his sword and blocked the kunai with his handle, turning around and facing Kawasu, holding his sword with both hands.

Kawasu leapt away and smirked his eyes turning red for the briefest of moments.

Naruto world whirled into confusion as everything turned into a swirl of blue and purple. Kawasu turned into the same color as the sky which was purple. The trees turned blue and so did the ground. Naruto felt as if he was stuck in a two dimensional world. The blonde snarled realizing what this meant. If Kawasu threw a kunai from the sky it would be purple, blending with the sky and if he threw it from the trees he would make it blue. Not only that Naruto couldn't tell the differences between the ground, the trees or even the branches. He would have to stay where he was.

The jinchuuriki spun the sword with both hands in front of him like a windmill. He heard metal clanging on metal and knock away kunai or whatever metal weaponry that Kawasu had thrown at him.

"_He's infusing the kunai with miniscule amounts of his chakra," _thought the blonde as he continued to whirl the sword in front of him. _"That's how he got me into the genjutsu…" _

Naruto took his sword and slammed it onto the branch that it was sitting on like he was using a staff. It sent out a visible wave of chakra dispelling the genjutsu and giving Naruto a full view of everything that was going on.

Kawasu stabbed both kunai in his hand into Naruto's chest, flinging him off of his feet and sending them both plummeting towards the ground.

"You're not fooling me." Naruto muttered blood leaking out of his mouth as they fell towards the ground. "This is a genjutsu isn't it?"

Kawasu smirked at him. "We'll know when we hit the ground won't we?"

Naruto thought back to the exact moment when Kawasu touched his shoulder, hitting him with the genjutsu. Then he thought about the countless kunai that he deflected using his sword. The moment that Kawasu had touched his shoulder was when he got caught in the genjutsu. Naruto had expelled his chakra to dispel it but in actuality Kawasu fixed his genjutsu to make Naruto think that he had expelled his chakra. Then he changed the genjutsu to make Naruto think that he was under a new genjutsu.

It was a genjutsu within a genjutsu.

Naruto opened his eyes.

He spun around, his sword in hand held sideways across his chest. The blonde grabbed the handle and made an attempt to draw it.

"There's no need to draw it." Kawasu shrugged. "I'm just a clone."

"How do I know that this is not a genjutsu?"

"I call that a genjutsu within a genjutsu… Genjutsu-ception."

"What-ception?"

"Never mind." Kawasu sighed then his expression turned serious. "Look Naruto-kun, there's no time to be spent playing around here. This exam there's more to it then we know."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Ah…" He smirked. "I understand what you want now."

Kawasu had approached him without attacking. Then he had placed a genjutsu on the blonde. It wasn't to test him or anything though Naruto knew that Kawasu must have been dying to face him. Yet rationality must have taken precedence for him. Kawasu wanted something from Naruto. Knowing Kawasu he probably knew that Naruto would not listen to reason. Kawasu chose to be the sensible one and place the genjutsu on Naruto so that he'd have time to get away. Naruto wouldn't attack a clone for no reason. There was something that only a clone could do.

Trading Information.

Naruto hugged his sword to his chest and sat down on the branch in a cross legged posture. He cleared his throat. "What do you want?"

"I heard from Ino that you fought the Iwa team and you were hurt badly." Kawasu gave the onceover to Naruto. "Doesn't look that badly hurt."

"What do you want?" Naruto grunted then narrowed his eyes. "And what can you give me in exchange?"

"Information about the scrolls."

Naruto frowned. The information that Kawasu was offering wasn't worth the information that he could give. For someone of Kawasu's intelligence it wasn't like him to offer free information like this. Kawasu wasn't stupid. It wasn't like he didn't know the value of Naruto's information versus his. Kawasu knew that Naruto's information wasn't worth much. Sure it was worth _something, _maybe if they had set their targets on ambushing the Iwa team. But the Iwa team had three people that was strong if not stronger than Kawasu. Sakura, from what Naruto heard, was useless and Sasuke was a bit stronger than normal, hardly something they'd consider to be a monster.

There was something else.

Naruto thought to Kawasu's personality. He wasn't someone who'd come to him offering information freely like this. He was shrewd and cunning, someone who appeared to be joking and not serious. However he was, in Naruto's opinion, the most cruel out of them all, the one closest to being a ninja. He was the kind who would do anything for the sake of a mission and for his family.

He was cold.

There was something else here that Naruto did not know.

He didn't think Kawasu would tell him.

Kawasu watched as the gears in Naruto's head spin already knowing that the blonde had figured something out.

"_This guy's too smart for his own good… I don't like it. If I give him just one thing to go on he traces it back to the starting point." _Kawasu cleared his throat a little petty action to interrupt Naruto chain of thinking. It didn't work. The blonde continued to stare at him with those blue eyes of his. _"Brains and Brawns both. I really can't tell him anything." _

Naruto tried to think of all the possible things that could have Kawasu help him. There were only one logical conclusion.

Kawasu owed him something.

But what? Naruto had never done anything that could have Kawasu be indebted to him. So either Naruto had indirectly help Kawasu or-

Naruto figured it out.

The blonde stood up his sword clutched by the scabbard in one hand. "Where's Sai and Shiho?"

Kawasu's eyes went wide. _"This guy…" _

"They helped you somehow didn't they." Naruto felt his lips tug into a smile. "I haven't had the time to be worried about them yet but now that you've reminded me I miss my cute little teammates."

His tone turned cold. "Where are they?" The last part of his sentence came out in a half growl as his brain just finished making full circle.

Kawasu knew the weight of the information that he could offer Naruto. He had just tried to pass it off towards Naruto as good will to make it the opposite. He had just tried to get Naruto to owe _him _something. The Kurama had simply found the silver lining in his dark cloud. Naruto couldn't really find it himself to blame the so called Genjutsu Prince. It was all a part of being a ninja, something that Naruto was understanding more and more about it lately. He now understood why Takezo had emphasized theoretical situations and human interactions so much. He knew if he just trained Naruto in the samurai arts, Naruto would simply be a grunt, all strength and no show.

But Naruto knew.

Being a ninja was all about deception, trickery and above all, trying constantly to see the bigger picture using what tiny bit of information he had. It was about trying not to drown in the bits of information that they threw at you trying to mislead and trick you. Naruto understood now that it was a world without blood or tears. Everyone was your friend and at the same time, your enemy. Naruto could trust someone only to stick a knife in your back as soon as you were turned around.

Kawasu just doing what he had been taught to do.

"_How did he…" _Kawasu coughed. "They asked me to deliver this message to you." He shot an apologetic glance at Naruto. "Can't blame a guy for trying can you?"

"Just tell me where my team is."

Kawasu began his story.

…..

_Kawasu lay on the ground groaning. The weird snake man had tried to bite him on the neck. While taijutsu wasn't Kawasu's strong suit, he was used to casting simple genjutsu to escape such confrontations. He had escaped it by blending in with the background and creating a clone in his place. This clone wasn't a shadow clone, instead it was a clone made from genjutsu, a simple mirage. The man's neck elongated like he was the villain of some bad science fiction movie and ripped the mirage apart. _

"_Kukukukuku," the man's laugh itself sent shivers down Kawasu's spine. "Not bad at all… you say you're the Kurama Heir?" _

_Kurama remained silent while blended in with the background._

"_If your elder asks you a question," A voice whispered in his ear. "Then answer." _

_Kawasu leapt away his heart attempting to rush out of his chest. 'When did he…' _

_Three snakes, coiled around each other rushed out of the man's mouth heading straights towards the leaf genin. Kawasu threw three kunai from the sleeves of his kimono but the snakes wove around it and wrapped around his ankle before he could react. Kawasu gathered his hands together and looked at them to put them to sleep when they bit his ankle._

_Kawasu screamed as fire exploded in his legs. He felt the venom being pumped into his veins from the fangs of the reptiles. He bent down and cut them off from the body with a single cut of his kunai but it was too late. He fell from the branch feeling the numbness in his body spreading. _

_The Genjutsu Prince's body hit the ground like a lifeless doll._

_The genin was alerted to Orochimaru's presence by his soft footsteps. To Kawasu everything that the man did reminded him of a snake. Even walking seemed to be akin to slithering for the man. Kawasu attempted to get up but his body would not listen. He couldn't even move a single finger. He wanted to scream but his vocal chords were frozen with venom._

_Kawasu felt something wet touch the side of his cheek._

"_Kawasu!" he dimly registered Sakura's voice in the background. He knew even without looking that Sakura was holding an unconscious Sasuke somewhere behind them. The snake ninja had bitten Sasuke on the neck and injected some type of poison into him. It resulted in the young ninja's termination from the battle._

_Now Kawasu was about to be treated with the same fate._

_Orochimaru continued to walk towards the boy. Kawasu was an unexpected find. Originally he planned to just mark Sasuke and then leave however there was another boy with just as much talent. _

_He leaned down or rather, stretched down with his neck towards Kawasu. _

_Orochimaru bit down on Kawasu's neck. "I look forward to your growth…" _

_Kawasu erupted into ink covering the Sannin. _

_Sai jumped in from behind his tanto headed straight towards Orochimaru's neck. _

_Orochimaru turned his head at the last second, his mouth wide open and hissing like the reptile that he was known for. A snake shot out of his neck hissing like its owner and from the snake's jaws shot out the famous sword blocking Sai's tanto strike. Sai leaned into it only to be overpowered by the older man. _

"_What's this?" Orochimaru whispered. "One of the old war hawk's little rat?" _

_Shiho shot out of the clearing, smoke still trailing her shoes her hands already in the shape of a hand seal. _

"_Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu." Shiho put a hand to her mouth to control the shape and intensity of the flame. She spat out a fireball about four feet in diameter. Though it was nowhere near the size if anyone else had done the technique this fireball had something that the other things did not. _

_It was fast._

_Orochimaru swung his head downwards overpowering Sai completely and leaping out of the fireballs way. He looked down to see the tips of his shoe scorched. _

'_To hit me when I wasn't intending to get hit…' Orochimaru grabbed a branch with one hand and hung from it with one hand. "It looks like I'm going to have to give up on the Kurama Heir… well, that's no problem. I only wanted Sasuke-kun anyways." _

_Sai watched as the Sannin left. Shiho walked up to him from behind her brows furrowed. She pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose. She was breathing heavily from using the two jutsu in succession. Sai noted this._

'_If only she had more chakra, she could have been a great shinobi.' Sai dismissed the thought and looked at Team 7. Sasuke was groaning in pain, writhing around in Sakura's grasp. Kawasu came out from behind the bushes where Sai had hidden him. He staggered a bit but from the look of his complexion he had somehow gotten rid of the poison. _

"_Y-You saved us." Kawasu jerked towards Sakura's side. _

_Sakura was still in shock, cradling the passed out Uchiha. Kawasu glanced at the girl marveling at how useless she could be. She had done nothing except catch the incapacitated Uchiha and cry over him. Sai saw Kawasu's mask crack a little as the Genjutsu Prince looked at Sakura with absolute loathing and disgust on his face. Kawasu cleared his throat and smiled once more veiling his true expression. _

"_We owe you one." _

"_You do." Sai looked at Shiho before continuing. "We lost Naruto." Sai gave a pointed look at Kawasu and at the helplessly sobbing Sakura. "If you see him tell him we'll be waiting near the tower." _

_Sakura looked up. "Y-You're leaving us?" _

"_We don't have a scroll." Kawasu spat in the sighed, his glare making the girl fall silent. "I fucking hate useless baggage…" He muttered darkly but not so quiet that Sakura couldn't hear. _

_Sakura's eyes went wide then her expression went downcast._

_Shiho gave her a sympathetic look._

_Kawasu spat on the ground. "We don't have a scroll. We have no choice but to stay here. The Uchiha's half dead and in no condition to travel anyways." He looked at Sai and Shiho. "I'm not going to go out of my way to find him." _

"_You don't need to." Sai answered. "Trouble has a way of finding him." _

….

Naruto ran through the forest his sword held in his arm.

"_Sai and Shiho most likely have gotten a scroll without me." _The blonde leaped onto a tree branch with one arm using it as a pulley to throw himself forward. He landed on another branch and looked through the thick canopy at the sun. _"I should be nearing the center of the forest by now. Just where are they?" _

"Stop this! We both have the required scrolls."

Naruto attention snapped towards where he heard the voice. _"That voice…" _

The blonde quickly leapt onto another branch and peered through the leaves. Next to where he was there was a clearing without any trees or bushes as if it was a training ground. Naruto surmised that it was very much possible. This was a spot near the tower and as such would be subject to a lot of different battles. As more and more shinobi began to battle here it was inevitable that there be collateral damage. Over time the damage would pile up and much like how a path through a forest is born, a small area for battles were born.

Naruto wondered how old this forest could be.

He looked to see another little problem developing.

He saw the team from Iwa standing across from the team from Taki. Mumaru looked as if he had been through hell. His face was bruised to the point where if he wasn't covered with bandages Naruto wouldn't have known it was Mumaru. Also his right eye was covered with bandages as well. He also seemed to be walking with a slight limp. His right arm was also in a cast sitting across his chest. But Mumaru held his left palm out that cursed square cube with the brightly lit sphere in the middle pointed towards their opponents.

Akatsuchi stood a little bit in front of Mumaru but out of the way of his shot. The boy's hand was already clutched into a hand seal and he spat out a golem immediately which roared. Naruto got a good look at this golem for the first time, his vision not clouded by the boiling blood of battle. The golem was a little over six feet tall and almost as wide. It's fists were the largest part of its body, reaching the ground as if it was some kind of gorilla. It legs were short and stumpy as well. There were two curved horns on top of its head giving it a devilish appearance. It's mouth was jagged with square teeth.

Kurotsuchi had a katana in her hand slightly behind the other two. She had a calculating gaze in her eyes that Naruto knew had lurked in there before but had not been able to see it for sure. Now he was sure of what type of person she was. Calculative, cold, cruel and down to her core, every bit of a ninja as Naruto read in the books that Yamato had suggested to him.

She'd do anything for the mission and her village. In her eyes other people from villages were enemies, nothing more. Stepping stones and steps on a ladder for her was built by the skulls of her slain enemies.

Naruto was starting to hate that girl.

The other three stood opposite of them as Naruto struggled to remember their names.

The one with long brown hair and the pretty looks was called Shibuki. The boy didn't really hold any weapons in his hand and didn't seem to be in any type of special stance. But the boy's shift in weight couldn't escape Naruto's eyes. He kept his weight on the balls of feet and leaned slightly backwards ready to dodge any attack that the Iwagakure ninja threw his way. Naruto also noticed that the ninja kept his hand on a small gourd of water that he kept tied around his waist.

The girl with mint green hair was the one showing the most aggressiveness. She was practically growling at them. Fu, if Naruto remembered correctly, seemed to ready to attack. She held no weapons or anything special like the gourd of water (which the blonde was sure would be used for a technique) but seemed to be confident of the outcome.

"_So she's a hand to hand fighter." _Naruto looked at the boy.

The boy had taken off the one of the two masks from his waist and attached it to the side of his head at a slight angle. He already had his hands clutched together in a single seal, the threat clear. From what Naruto could see of the situation Shibuki was trying to avoid conflict but all three of them knew that it wouldn't end with a talk.

They were going to fight.

Naruto watched to gouge their strengths and to see the flow of battle. Despite what ninjas taught about not underestimating the opponent, Naruto believed that battles started even before weapons clashed or jutsu performed. Battles started as soon as one met the eyes of their opponents because no matter how many sweet words or smiles were used, the eyes never lied. People could often tell if they would win or not just by looking in the eyes of their opponents. They just did not know it in such a concrete manner. They felt it in the boost of their confidence, subconscious increase in their aggressiveness and feeling as if this match would not be a hard one.

It lead to overconfidence and a lot of people lost in this way.

Naruto watched and from what he could tell the flow was leaning towards Iwa Genin's side.

That was reasonable.

The Iwa genin knew they were about to win.

So they moved first.

They all did their techniques at almost exactly the same time but Naruto could tell the minute differences as if the battle was in slow motion. Mumaru fired his cube and right after Akatsuchi's golem pounded the ground with its humongous fists flying into the air. Kurotsuchi's hands moved fast enough to be only a blur in Naruo's eyes. She chained two jutsus at once.

"Suiton: Mizurappa no jutsu!" Kurotsuchi jumped into the air spewing out a large stream of water that flew towards the Takigakure genin ahead of Mumaru's jinton technique. The three Takigakure Genin leaped backwards and the water torrent hit only the ground, bouncing upwards and hitting the Takigakure Genin. The force was lessened considerably though and when it hit them the Takigakure genin did not feel anything except something like rain hitting them.

Kurotsuhi had counted on this.

She quickly turned the water into her second jutsu, chaining the two together. "Yoton: Sekkaigyo no jutstu!"

Naruto's eyes widened at the lava release technique. _"She's a kekkai genkai user…" _

The quicklime came from her mouth not in a steady stream but as a small white bullet that seemed to stretch like a blanket as it neared the genins. It didn't have great speed but seemed to be heavy. To Naruto it looked like a ball of flour though when it hit the ground where the water was it splashed over the Takigakure Genin like the water had.

That's where the trap lay.

The quicklime substance hardened like cement immediately trapping the three in place.

The expansion of the cube came suddenly, trapping all three takigakure genin in place.

"_It's over…" _

The cube flashed all white indicating the explosion of the sphere within.

"Let's go." Mumaru muttered picking up a piece of cloth from the ground that Naruto hadn't noticed. It was a black jacket. Instead of putting his arm through the sleeves Mumaru just hung it over his shoulders like a cloak turning from the scene of the explosion as if to walk away.

"Um… Mumaru?" Kurotsuchi's smile was faltering off of her face. "There's a little problem."

Mumaru turned around his mouth curving up from underneath his bandages.

"If you ignore us like that," Fu said through the clearing dust from the explosion. "It's not funny."

Fu stood in front of her teammates her skin darker than before. There was also a weird sheen to her skin the sun reflecting off of it so that it looked as if it was shining. With a sudden realization Naruot realized that her skin had turned into steel. Behind her stood Shibuki completely unhurt and behind Shibuki stood Iko. Behind Iko there was a fourth member, similar to Akatsuchi's golem. However the beast, unlike the golem, was constructed of black vein looking things, the mask that was attached to the side of Iko's head serving as its head. The mask was made of an owlish pattern cocking it head unnaturally this way and that. Naruto thought that he saw something like ash around its mouth.

Naruto figured out what had happened.

Right before the sphere exploded the team must have flown into action. Fu must have activated her technique turning her skin into steel. When her skin turned into metal it must have granted her the leverage needed to escape from the quickly hardening quicklime. As for Iko, his mask-beast was currently breathing a low amount of fire on the quicklime around Shibuki, allowing it to soften for the brown haired ninja to escape from it as well. That must have been how Iko got out as well.

Naruto organized all their techniques in his head like it was a puzzle.

Fu was a close ranged technique user turning her skin into steel to deliver greater offensive capabilities. Also normal weapons wouldn't work on a skin like that. Iko used the two masks he had to summon that beast. If Naruto's theory was correct the other beast would use a different type of element than the beast. Unless the beast showed another elemental release technique Naruto wasn't going to presume that it could use more than one. That meant that Iko used his beasts to fight, much like those ninja that Naruto read about called the Sannin who centered around summoning techniques.

Fu would be weak against genjutsu and long ranged elemental techniques. Iko would be weak against Taijutsu.

That meant that Shibuki would have to cover for their weaknesses. Since Fu was a close range fighter and Iko a long range fighter using his mask beasts, Shibuki would have to be skilled in both genjutsu and ninjutsu.

Naruto wasn't wrong.

The golem sailed in from the air his fist raised in to hammer them flat towards the ground. Fu leaped up to meet it, and to the blonde's shock, her shoulder tackle broke it into pieces. It was to be expected, steel was harder than rock. But the fact that Fu could jump while her skin was metal surprised Naruto. That meant that Fu, who possessed a slim build despite her boyish demeanor, held surprising strength in her body. When she landed on the ground again she created a small crater sending cracks along the ground.

"Go." Shibuki took out a scroll and opened it while his teammates went to work.

Iko formed hand seals and put them to his mouth while his mask beast went next to him. As if it was made of rubber the mask beast's chest swelled and Naruto saw a few embers escape from its mouth.

"Fuuton: Kami Oroshi!" Iko put his palms forward, one facing the ground and the other facing towards the sky and at that precise moment, Naruto saw a visible wave of wind come to life from Iko's hands. It wasn't spinning or anything like that, to Naruto it just looked like a really strong wave of wind. When it hit the Iwa genin it was strong enough to make them use chakra to stick to the ground but it didn't cut them or anything.

But that wasn't the purpose of the jutsu.

The Owl opened its mouth letting out an eerie cry. At the same time it spat out two rings of fire from its mouth looking like sound waves. It intersected with Iko's jutsu and a firestorm came to fire. The burning inferno flew towards the Iwa genin threatening to roast them alive.

Kurotsuchi used her water jutsu again as the fire came near them. But the initial wind jutsu lessened the impact of the water and the fire technique enhanced by the wind technique wasn't stopped by the feeble attempt. Akatsuchi formed hand seals and plunged his hand into the ground.

Naruto thought he was going to summon a wall of rock but he was wrong.

Akatsuchi grunted and pulled and ripped the ground apart, creating a wall of rock with physical strength alone. The Takigakure genin lost footing as the ground tilted towards them and the firestorm followed the path of the ground sailing harmlessly above the Iwa genin. When Naruto looked closely Akatsuchi's arm was covered with small bits of rock, clinging to his hands like a grieve of sorts.

Then Fu came out from the firestorm, her skin darkened and smoking but otherwise seemingly unhurt.

The Iwa nins eyes widened in realization.

Fu's steel skin was an invulnerability of sorts. The technique allowed her to plunge into most jutsu without fear. She entered the inferno willingly, using her own teammate's jutsu as a cover. The Iwa genin could never have imagined that anyone would enter the jutsu so willingly.

"_They're better than I thought." _Thought the blonde with narrowed eyes.

Fu punched Mumaru as she fell on the ground. Her steel skin added to her weight and the fact that she had jumped down from the footing that Akatsuchi just created for her almost doubled the impact. Mumaru's head slammed against the ground so fast that Naruto was sure that the Iwa Genin was unconscious. Then to Fu's shock it melted into mud.

"_The firestorm provided cover for the Takigakure Genin," _Naruto thought as he watched. _"Why not for the Iwagakure genin?" _

A pair of giant hands exploded out of the ground grabbing Fu's ankles and putting her off balance.

Kurotsuchi's katana shot out of the ground hitting Fu's descending chin with the sound of metal hitting metal. The katana screamed in protest as it bent under Fu's weight before breaking into pieces.

Kurotsuchi and Mumaru shot out from the ground.

"What an absolute defense…" Kurotsuchi said with disgust looking at the mint haired girl.

Mumaru didn't even bother putting his hands together to perform his signature jinton technique. She had survived it once and he wasn't about to waste his chakra on a useless endeavor. Akatsuchi came out of the ground as well, still holding Fu's ankles. Then in a surprising display of casual strength he spun her around before throwing her towards the Takigakure team. The steel user shot towards her own team like a bullet of steel, piercing the earth that Akatsuchi had pulled up.

Iko appeared right underneath Fu, timing his jutsu perfectly. He put his palms out again shooting a burst of wind that stopped Fu from flying any further. She was dexterous enough to use the half a second time in the air to spin and land on her feet, creating a small crater once more.

Shibuki, under the cover of the firestorm and the wall of earth that Akatsuchi pulled up had summoned a giant gourd of water almost as tall as he was. Naruto saw him perform a few hand seals before he slammed it into the gourd.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." Shibuki whispered. The gourd's cork exploded with pressure as a dragon of water came to life soaring into the air before descending towards the group of Iwa ninja.

But they had prepared their jutsu as well.

"Yoton: Sekkaidan no jutsu!" Kurotsuchi put a hand to her mouth sideways in the shape of a fist. She began to fire fist sized balls of white quicklime which pierced the dragon, quickly turning into balls of white cement within. As the solid material began to react with the water it began to weigh down the dragon, slowing it in speed and decreasing it in size and the cement fell through it.

Akatsuchi grabbed the top of the cliff that he had created and with a roar pulled it down, his hands still covered with bits of rock. He slammed it down once more, making the ground an even plain once more. Mumaru ran on top of it chakra gathering in his hands to perform his jinton technique once more. Iko and his beast gathered once more sending another wind and fire technique in conjunction towards the Iwa genin using the ground that was flat as their advantage once more.

Mumaru finished forming the cube in his hands sending it flying towards the combined technique.

The techniques never met each other.

The blonde that they had seen before appeared next to the cube that was flying towards the firestorm. He held his sword with two hands, one hand on the scabbard and other hand on the handle. When the cube was about to touch him he ducked underneath and hit the cube on the scabbard in between his hands. The cube tried to expand when the blonde let out a scream sending the technique bouncing upwards towards the air.

"_He just changed the direction of my Dust Release…" _Mumaru stared with his wide open as the blonde sent his strongest technique into the air. _"It's supposed to be unstoppable…" _

Then the firestorm reached him.

Naruto faced it and drew his sword in an upwards arc cutting the inferno in two, sending sailing on either side of him.

The six genin stared.

"Sorry," Naruto faced the Takigakure team with a smile on his face. "I have a new sword to test out," He turned towards the Iwa Team. "And I owe them a debt."

Shibuki stood on top of the cork which was suspended in the air by the continuous upwards stream from the gourd of water.

"You're Uzumaki Naruto." He said his face completely different from before. "You're interfering with our battle."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to end this peacefully?"

"They attacked us first." Shibuki narrowed his eyes. "This will either end in our team's victory… or defeat. Back off Uzumaki."

Naruto watched as Fu and Iko gathered around the gourd. The mask beast roared at Naruto. The blonde turned his gaze towards the Iwa team. Compared to the Takigakure Team they looked a lot worse for wear, Mumaru still suffering from his battle with Naruto, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi both breathing heavily due to the series of jutsu they had just used.

"_There's no fun in beating down tired opponents…" _The blonde felt a fierce smile stretching over his lips. _"I guess I can make this more interesting…" _

He cleared his throat.

"Fine then. I'll take on all six of you."

….

Ino's eyes went wide. "H-he's crazy…"

Shikamaru stared at the blonde feeling something in his heart.

"_He's crazy… beyond crazy. He's insane." _He looked down at his hands. _"But whenever I watch him fight I feel my heart start beating. From that speech he gave during the first part of the exam. Then his fight with the Iwa team from before. He's the only one who continues to fight against impossible odds. We're supposed to give up from battles like this… this is stupid. This is insane and it's against the ninja code." _

"_But why do I want to see him fight… no… why do I want to go out there and fight with him." _Shikamaru looked at his hand which was shaking. He clutched his heart with it feeling it beat erratically. _"Why do I wish I had the guts to go and fight out there with him?" _

"_Why can't I be like him? Why does he make me feel like I can do so much more?" _

"_Why?... who are you Uzumaki Naruto?" _

Ino looked as Shikamaru's face changed through various expressions. She had never seen this side of Shikamaru before. She had seen him serious before but this was different. He seemed to be thinking and there was a look in his eyes.

His eyes were burning.

Chouji looked popping chips in his mouth. It wasn't the steady pace that he usually ate with but it was quickened as if he was nervous.

Or perhaps excited.

Ino looked at the blonde. _"I could get a sense for why they're excited… even me… this Uzumaki Naruto. Even me… he makes me want to be stronger." _She looked at the sky. _"He makes me wish I trained harder… I… I want to fight with him right now. I want to be… his strength." _

All three of them were thinking the same thing.

"_I want to follow him." _

…..

Shibuki stared at Naruto as if he had gone crazy. He decided to voice this.

"Who are you?" He didn't mean to sound so incredulous but that was exactly what the boy was, incredulous.

"This is stupid," Iko spat at the side. "Let's take care of him first."

"Sounds good to me." Fu punched the palm of her other hand. "Let's cream him first."

Naruto blurred, vanishing from the spot. He appeared only a few feet away from the Takigakure team his sword back in his sheath.

Shibuki's eyes widened. _"Dangerous." _He ordered his teammates. "Fu! Iko!" But they were already springing into action.

But Naruto was faster.

"_I already know your battle strategy," _Naruto thought as he rushed towards them. _"Iko is the long rage hitter. He provides cover for Fu so that she can get close. While she distracts them that guy called Shibuki gets enough time to gather his chakra for a one-hit-ko jutsu." _

"_And I know just the way to break it." _

Fu practically flew towards the blonde. She punched downwards intending to crush him to the ground. The blonde sidestepped the blow almost as if he was dancing. Fu's punch hit the floor creating a small crater and sending of debris.

Naruto swung his katana in a neat arc.

"_That's useless," _Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes as she watched. _"She's made out of steel. There's no way you can cut her… at least unsheathe your sword first Uzumaki." _

The tip of Naruto's scabbard neatly swiped across both of Fu's eyes.

Fu screamed.

Naruto continued the spin and swiped his sword across Fu's feet, tripping her and sending her towards the ground face first. Then he flicked his wrist neatly, spinning his sword in a neat semi-circle, the end of the sword hitting the back of her head.

Fu writhed in pain on the ground.

"Oh save it," Naruto snapped at her. "You're not going to go blind from it… it's just a scratch."

"FU!" Iko screamed his beast screaming with him. The black haired genin began to form hand seals. The beast next to him began its long intake of breath its chest swelling up like a balloon.

Naruto unsheathed his sword about three inches from its scabbard using his thumb, the blade edge pointed towards the beast and then shut it closed again flicking the top of the guard with his thumb once more.

The beast exploded into black ichor screaming weakly as it did. It was sliced neatly from head to groin in a single vertical cut, melting towards the ground.

"_W-what kind of technique is that…" _Shibuki stared shocked. The blonde wasn't anywhere near them.

Naruto thrust towards Iko with the handle.

The sword flew out of the scabbard the handle neatly planting itself right in between Iko's hands, interrupting his chain of hand seals. Naruto appeared in front of Iko sheathing his sword in one smooth move. However the move was executed so fast that Iko was still holding onto the handle of the katana, which was pointed towards him. When Naruto sheathed his sword the impact was strong enough to slam both the handle and Iko's own hands into his face. Naruto quickly adhered the blade to his scabbard taking it out of Iko's grasp and flipped it so that it was pointed towards Iko. With a single thrust Naruto's katana entered Iko's stomach bending the boy's body in half.

Iko spat up blood falling towards the ground unconscious.

Shibuki jumped down from the cork, a sword made of water in his hand.

Naruto danced towards the Takigakure Genin, his sword tracing the ground in a circular arc. When he was near enough Naruto sliced sideways at a slight upwards arc. Shibuki brought his sword to meet its ascent.

Then Naruto's katana suddenly lowered itself and rose once more hitting the edge of Shibuki's chin.

Shibuki felt the world spin and did not notice anything as Naruto brought his sword down immediately once more hitting Shibuki's hit in the opposite direction.

Shibuki fell to the ground unconscious.

Kurotsuchi swallowed. She and Mumaru traded a look.

Both of them had been trained a little bit in the way of the sword, Kenjutsu. As a result they could roughly estimate the blonde's skill level.

The move he had done just now to Shibuki was something that wasn't possible unless he possessed incredible speed and control over his sword. First the blonde traced the ground with his sword so that when his sword escaped the ground its speed and impact was almost doubled. Shibuki estimated its trajectory and tried to block it. However at the last second right before their blades met, Naruto lowered his stance drastically. This speed couldn't be achieved by simple arm movement. At that precise moment Naruto had lowered his whole body, bending his legs, his arms and his torso. When his sword was underneath Shibuki's hand having passed by neatly, Naruto forced his body upwards in an explosive movement. Suddenly lowering one's stance then moving it upwards required countless hours of body control. That explosive movement had decreased the angle of Naruto's sword allowing it to hit Shibuki's chin abruptly giving the taki genin no time to react. The first strike rattled Shibuki's brain making him drop all sense of awareness. The second strike rattled it again immediately in the opposite direction rendering him unconscious.

Shibuki's chance of winning had turned into zero as soon as he decided to meet Naruto in swordplay.

"Swallow's Return." Naruto whispered beneath his breath the name of his technique.

He turned towards the Iwa team.

They watched him.

Iko lay unconscious in a pool of his own vomit and blood from Naruto's thrust towards his stomach and intestine. The blow had been strong enough to rip his stomach and eject everything contained within. Naruto kicked him and turned him over so that he wouldn't drown in it. Iko's beast lay next to him slowly dying, its breathing a quiet rasp. Shibuki lay on his back a drool of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth.

Fu lay on the ground whimpering and clutching her eyes.

"Come on," Naruto whispered to them above Fu's whimpering. "Or should I go to you?"

Killing Intent filled the clearing.

Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi and Mumaru had never encountered a situation like this in their entire lives.

They had never been scared to this extent either.

Kurotsuchi's legs gave out and she fell to the ground, hugging herself, feeling herself shake. _"W-what a monster… is this what this test is about… n-no… I don't… I don't want to continue." _

Mumaru was shaking as well.

"_If I challenged him while he had his sword…" _The genin gulped. _"I'd be dead by now… there's no way… I can fight a monster like him." _

"Stop shaking Mumaru," Akatsuchi's rich baritone cut through the haze in their minds. "Get up Kurotsuchi."

"NOW!" Akatsuchi didn't exactly snarl or snap, but he said it in a firm voice leaving no room for argument.

"We are Iwa Shinobi," Akatsuchi told them, his voice turning kind once more. "Mumaru you will be the next Tsuchikage. Kurotsuchi you are our current Tsuchikage's granddaughter and daughter of one of the greatest ninja that Iwagakure no Sato has ever produced." He looked at the blonde. "We will not go down without fighting."

"Nicely spoken." Naruto's face was cast in shadow, hiding his features.

"He should be tired by now," Akatsuchi swallowed. "We have a chance if we work together."

Naruto looked up, his blue eyes clear as the sky. "Then let's dance."

Naruto flew across the clearing, the chakra that he had gathered into his legs being released in one burst. The ground where he jumped off of actually cracked and split from the pressure.

Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi began to form hand seals.

Naruto grabbed the handle of his sword and thrust towards them.

"_He's all the way over-" _was the train of Kurotsuchi's thought before the air pressure from the thrust of the sword hit her hand with enough force to break her chain of hand seals and crush her hands against her nose. She reeled from the blow putting a leg back to keep from losing balance.

Naruto thrust twice more but Akatsuchi already knew the result. Kneeled down and placed his palms on the ground, creating a wall made of rock. He saw, or felt more, two holes appear in the rock wall he had created, exactly the size of Naruto's sword.

Naruto leaped into the air and in one smooth movement drew his sword.

His draw itself sent a slash made of air pressure towards them.

Akatsuchi extended the wall to cover them from above as well thickening it to prevent the slash from coming through.

Naruto saw his slash hit the wall of earth, leaving a large gash but unable to penetrate the thick battier. The blonde landed behind them to their exposed backs.

Mumaru, already anticipating this, had turned around his Jinton technique in hand and fired promptly.

Naruto sheathed his sword in one smooth movement and hit the cube once more on the middle of his scabbard. With a loud scream the blonde bent his legs then heaved upwards, bouncing the cube into the air once more.

"_How's he doing that…" _Kurotsuchi was trying to get rid of the spots in her vision that the impact with her own hands, which had been in a hand seal closely resembling a hammer fist, had given her.

Naruto drew his sword sending a slash of air pressure towards them then swung his sword again in the opposite direction, his grip facing up this time sending an additional slash of air.

Akatsuchi tried to touch the ground, his palms gathered together, to erect another wall.

A paper thin blade of chakra, in the shape of a long triangle, shot out from the ground impaling both his hands together and holding them in place.

Akatsuchi's eyes widened and he looked at the blonde who had stabbed his Katana into the ground.

Then to Naruto's shock and admiration Akatsuchi tore his hand from the chakra blade sideways and slammed his palm to the ground.

But Naruto wasn't one to not expect such things.

"_Underestimating the opponent… is the greatest way to lose. Don't think you are the only one who will never give up." _Yamato's words rang in Naruto's mind.

Another blade of chakra, thin as paper, shot out of the ground and impaled Akatsuchi's hands once more. The other blade of chakra disappeared into the ground as the other one came out.

The slashes made of air pressure hit the Iwa team, sending them flying backwards slamming them into the wall of rock that Akatsuchi erected earlier, leaving two long neat lacerations on their chests. All three of them had channeled chakra into their chest and forearms, neatly crossing them in front of their torso, but they were cut nonetheless. Though they had channeled their chakra they had spent a lot of it already and it was impossible to avoid the damage.

Three swords, still in their scabbards, thrust through the rock and hit the Iwa genin on the back of their heads rendering them unconscious.

"_When Akatsuchi formed his wall of rock to protect us from above… it created a blind spot," _Mumaru thought as everything began to turn black. _"He used that moment to create three kage bunshins… Uzumaki… this is my complete loss…" _

The Iwa genin fell unconscious.

Naruto was breathing heavily in the abrupt silence. He looked at his sword, seeming to get a good look at it for the first time since he had drawn it.

The scabbard was nearly five feet long and the blade was a bit shy of it. It had a straight back unlike other Katana, which were curved. The blade's edge, unlike other swords, had a wavy design looking like waves in the distance of an ocean. The guard was a perfectly round circle with three blades jutting out from it, evenly spaced. It looked a lot like the three bladed shuriken that Naruto sometimes employed.

Naruto sheathed it already knowing the name of his sword.

"Dou no Akuma (Eye of the Demon)," Naruto whispered. "It's only fitting… since those who look into will only face death." Naruto felt a weird chill as he said this and he thought back to those red eyes he saw in his dream. He shook his head ridding himself of the thought.

He fell to one knee, holding his sword by the handle with both hands and using it as a staff to keep himself from falling over completely. He saw his vision grow cloudy before focusing again. _"No chakra backlash in my arm… but the sword is too big. It's eating up all my chakra just for me to do a single technique…" _

"Naruto!" said a familiar voice. The blonde looked up to see Sai and Shiho running towards him.

Naruto smiled. _"Oh ok… it's ok for me to pass out then." _Naruto fell forward placing his left palm on the end of Demon Eye's handle. It shone brightly before entering the seal one his left palm.

Naruto embraced the darkness and its sweet whisperings of welcome rest.

AN: END! REVIEW! Did you like the chapter? It was kind of crappy and awkward in the beginning but I think it became better near the end. Was Naruto too OP? Though in my defense the six genin were tired from the battle, Shibuki didn't drink the hero water, Fu never got to use Nanabi's chakra, Iko had another mask left. The Takigakure team was caught by surprise. Iwa team on the other hand… Mumaru was still wounded, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi did most of the fighting against the Takigakure team so they were tired too. I think it's only fair that Naruto beat them.

Though a little barely.

We'll see.

This brings us to a close on the second part of the chuuning exams.

Mzr90: No… he has no idea about anything. As capable as he is, he's lacking in a lot of types of knowledge such as the political matters of Konoha. I think it'd be too OP if he knows too much… those types of stories kind of turn me off when he knows too much you know and throws around that knowledge like its nothing.

Mcnitra: Sai just had a hunch. Power of friendship I guess? Also Sai received a mission to protect the Uchiha boy and to make sure that the Takigakure Genin are doing fine. Politics ya know. Also as for what Mifune wanted to say… well, the Kyuubi unsealed it so I guess it has something to do with him? Hmm… I wonder if Mifune knew about the Kyuubi…

HunterAzrael: I don't know much about swords. Hm… you know the movie seven samurai? The guy with the big sword? It's not THAT big… it looks like a regular Katana with a straight back unlike other curved swords. That's how I picture it anyways.

Wandering Crimson Sage: I decided to make Naruto a wee bit weaker with this sword. He just got it and I don't want everyone to know he's that epic yet. As for the sword's powers… I have a few ideas I'm toying with in mind. I don't want to copy anything. I want to come up with something original so I'm debating with myself. If anyone has an idea though… not too epic. I like it when Naruto gets all bloodied and beaten the shit out of. I think that's more epic than just owning anyone with two or three moves. Of course… it depends on the opponent.

Jdabeast42: I'd love to repost it but I don't have the files… I might rewrite it in the future but I'm spending my time writing this fic at the moment. I know this story doesn't have the character depth that the other one did. I find Shiho really hard to write about… and explore. I don't know she doesn't feel real to me. Sai does though for some reason. I don't know.

Till Next Time! –Writing Again


	8. A Rival Appears

AN: Finally we've moved on from the second part of the exams. What was that? About 2 chapters? This chapter will move onto the preliminaries… then it'll cover a bit of Naruto's training under… Danzo himself. I'll explain why below after the chapter.

….

Naruto woke up with a raging storm of a headache in his head.

He groaned and clutched it before looking at his wrist and noticing a IV needle attached to it. He looked at himself, noticing that he was wearing a patient's clothing in stripes of blue and white. He swung his leg over the side of the bed wincing at the pain it sent from the back of his head to the forehead. Naruto rested his head in both of his hands for a second resting in that position. Soon seconds turned into minutes and he debated going back into bed or at least until the circus in his brain quieted down.

"You're up."

Naruto looked up to find a figure clad in shadow seated near the window of his room. He took that moment to absorb every single detail about the room in a single glance. The room wasn't large but spacious enough for him to swing his sword around in. The first thing that'd have to go was the IV that was stuck in him. It might be painful but he would have to swing his arm and throw the IV along with its metal stand towards his opponent. It would rip it from his wrist but would catch him off guard. Not a lot of people expected savage attacks like that. The person would react by getting up and casting the metal contraption aside with one or both hands. Naruto would have to aim for his legs and-

Naruto forced himself to stop.

"_What am I thinking," _He shook his head clearing the thoughts from his brain. _"I don't even know who he is and I'm thinking about killing him. I've been with the shinobi for too long." _He cleared his throat.

"Who are you?"

Naruto thought the man's lips curved up into a faint smile at the corners. Then just as quickly it had appeared it disappeared. It was almost as if the man could tell what kind of thoughts the blonde was having. Naruto cleared his throat again and planned to repeat his question.

"I just came here to see how you're doing," The man stood up walking into the shaft of sunlight coming through the window. "Naruto."

He was a tall man with waist length spiky white hair tied into a pony tail. There were two shoulder length bangs that framed both sides of his face. There were red tattoos of sorts that ran down from his eyes. Instead of a forehead protector that marked his allegiance to a specific village he wore a forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil'. There was a large wart on the right side of his nose. The man wore a shot green shit kimono and pants of the same color. Over it he wore a long red jacket. On his back there was a large scroll.

He knelt in front of the blonde. "Hey kiddo," The man whispered. "So I finally meet you."

"Who are you?" Naruto said through narrowed eyes getting a full measure of the man.

He was powerful much like the older ninja that Naruto had met.

But a bit different.

If he had to compare it to something Naruto would compare it to a tree. The man's power was like a well aged oak tree. Thick trunks, thick roots, overflowing with life and strength. Naruto would compare most genins to seedlings or perhaps small trees. The genins were trees that were well aged that most people saw. But this man was a tree that reached towards the sky, housing other forms of life and wouldn't be uprooted by a simple storm. His beliefs had been set a long time ago in his youth and he had stayed in them.

He was a tree…

He reminded Naruto of Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.

The man got up a confident smirk on his face. "I'm called Jiraiya." He folded his arms. "I guess you could say we were going to meet sooner or later."

Naruto studied the man wondering why he was here. From what he could tell the man wasn't hostile towards him in anyway. Rather than that he seemed glad to meet the blonde. It wasn't something he was used to but he'd take what he could get.

Now if only the circus inside his head would shut up…

Jiraiya slowly formed hand seals. Naruto noticed this but did not interrupt. If the man wanted to hurt him he could have done so while he slept. Instead the man had waited until Naruto had become awake. Whatever jutsu Jiraiya was using wouldn't hurt Naruto, most likely he wanted to show the blonde something important.

After forming the hand seals Jiraiya bit his thumb creating a thin line of blood dripping over his hand. Naruto recognized this as a summoning technique.

Jiraiya touched his hand to the ground and a summoning seal made of chakra infused ink spread all over the floor and a puff of smoke accompanied the arrival of something.

Naruto stared at the giant toad that croaked at him in greeting.

Its skin was the color of orange, riddled with bule markings. There were bandages wrapped around his torso and a beaded necklace around its neck. Its eye was yellow with a horizontal black stripe in the middle as most beasts of its species possessed. It clutched a long scroll in its tongue.

Jiraiya touched Naruto's shoulder.

"Listen boy," His eyes shifted left and right as if looking for something. "I was sent here to explain some things to you."

"Explain what?" Naruto had a ominous feeling in his chest.

"You're going to be involved in something very dangerous."

The blonde groaned.

"Why does this always happen to me?" He grunted. "I was taking the stupid exam and judging by the sun I've been asleep for a whole day!"

"Two days." Jiraiya quipped.

"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed. "How could I have gotten involved in something when I wasn't… even conscious?"

"You must have a talent for finding trouble."

"Or it finding me." Naruto muttered.

Jiraiya nodded. "Either way you're involved in something dangerous right now. Soon the preliminaries are going to be held for the third portion of the chuunin exam."

"Preliminaries?" Naruto cocked his head to the side. "I see…" He looked at the stand next to his bed and saw his holster there. He strapped it onto his thigh without thinking.

"Stop thinking about the exam." Jiraiya snapped he held out a hand to the toad. The toad unfurled its tongue and dropped the scroll in Jiraiya's hand. He saw the man bend a little underneath its weight. He dropped to one knee spreading the scroll on the ground.

He looked up at the blonde. "There are more important things."

"After the preliminaries," He continued to talk while opening up the scroll. "You will be taken to a dangerous place. You will be training under one of the most dangerous man in this village, if not _the _most dangerous. He will most likely place you with a group of other kids your age and allow you to train with them."

"You Uzumaki Naruto," Jiraiya looked at him in the eye. "Will be entering the ANBU ROOT training corps."

"W-what?" Naruto knelt to study the scroll that Jiraiya had opened up. "W-why? I don't remember applying-"

"This is an A-rank mission." Jiraiya whispered his voice deadly low. "You are to enter and form a profile sheet for every member you see there. It might be dangerous but you will be paid handsomely for your information."

Naruto remained silent his head straining to figure out what was happening.

This man was obviously a strong ninja and someone who knew about the inner political matters of Konoha. The fact that he was offering him an A-rank mission meant that he was loyal to the Hokage or lying. But Naruto didn't see an ounce of falsity in the man's eyes. They were clear to the point where Naruto wondered what type of life that this man had lead to have those eyes. He looked like a man who had set rules of honor for himself and followed them to the letter. He knew the difference between Right and Wrong.

He seemed like a good person to Naruto who constantly strove to do what was right and better himself.

This man was a loyal servant to the Hokage himself. Naruto knew that because it was an A-rank mission. Not because the mission was a high rank one, but because of the political matters behind it. D and C rank missions did not have a lot of requirements but as the mission became B and A rank political strings became attached to it. That meant that as the missions got higher in rank the circle of people who knew the matters behind it became smaller and smaller. This man was offering Naruto an A-rank espionage mission that had to do with the village. That matter alone was something for though.

It was an espionage mission within the village.

Coup d'état, rebellious factions, missing ninja and betrayal were the words that came to Naruto's mind.

Jiraiya felt cold steel touch his neck, right on the jugular vein.

Naruto's arms had blurred an crossed each other on either side of Jiraiya's neck holding a shuriken each.

"_Fast." _

"Who's side are you on?" Naruto growled, something that started from deep within his chest. "How do I know you're with the Hokage?"

"You trusted me until now to be loyal to Sarutobi," Jiraiya whispered a smile stretching over his lips. "Why the sudden change of mind?"

"Because I'm not perfect," Naruto whispered. "Just because your eyes say you're not lying doesn't mean what you're saying is the truth. Because what you believe to be the Right thing might be the Wrong thing in my world."

Jiraiya stared at the progenitor of the Namikaze and the Uzumaki clan who held two shuriken to his neck.

"You can trust me Naruto," Jiraiya answered. "I'm here on the Sandaime's orders."

Naruto hesitated.

Again, the man didn't seem to be lying.

Then he lowered his arms, dropping the shuriken onto the floor.

Jiraiya nodded satisfied. _"Looks like letting him have the upper hand for a moment was the right choice." _He cleared his throat.

"Once again you will form profile sheets on the people that you meet, personalities, battle capabilities as well as their names. This is usually not a mission given to a genin but a unique opportunity that only you can take care of has presented itself."

"If I'm caught with the profile sheets-"

"Which is why you'll sign this contract here." Jiraiya tapped his finger on an empty space on the scroll bringing Naruto's attention to it.

"What is this?"

"It's a summoning contract." Jiraiya explained. "Sign your name here in blood. Then afterwards form these hand seals, boar, dog, monkey, rooster and ram. After channel chakra into your hand, make sure it has your blood on it, and touch a surface. Depending on the amount of chakra you put in you'll be able to summon a toad. After you summon the toad give it the profile sheets that you have created and give it to him. He'll relay it back to me."

Naruto picked up the fallen shuriken and made a small cut on his thumb, signing his name on the scroll. Once it was done the man rolled it back up giving it back to the toad behind him.

"We'll meet again Naruto." Jiraiya smiled at him. "I'm sure of it." He leaped out the window, the toad going after him and disappeared from view.

Naruto swallowed, confusion reigning in his head.

He sat down on his bed and opened the dresser. In it his clothes lay. His long sleeved v-neck shirt with a light mesh undershirt. Like his shirt his shirt was black as well. There was a roll of bandages for him to wrap the pants around his shin. Naruto put the clothes on his bed dressing himself forcing himself to think.

"_Calm down," _the blonde told himself. _"First… let's go on the clues that he gave you. ROOT, Hokage and Espionage. This is an A-rank mission… right after the second part of the exams. That means that after this second part of the exams there will be a small time period before the third part of the exams are held." _

"_I was asleep and I don't remember myself volunteering for ROOT, Sai's division. I don't think Sai has enough political oomph to get me in there… this is politics. This means that I was the price of something. But the price of what?" _The blonde put on the mesh shirt and stood up to take off his pants. _"No. The important thing is that it was the Third Hokage that was responsible for this. I'm sure of it. ROOT, whether it belongs to the old man or not, is a faction of ANBU. That falls under the power of the Hokage. He must have made a deal with someone and I was the price. I don't need to know about the deal, I just need to know how I'm to act. I know I'm a spy but I need to know what's happening to me. He said I'll be entered in the training corps." _

Naruto's eyes widened.

"_Why does the Hokage need a spy in a division he already controls… unless he doesn't control it." _Naruto stopped wrapping the bandages around his leg. _"The old man means to take control of the ANBU faction… so this is the opportunity that he's been waiting for. Since the other genin aren't as capable yet… no wonder I'm the one who's been taken." _

Naruto finished dressing and looked at his reflection in the window mirror.

"Naruto," said a voice behind him. "Good. You're awake. Come on, we're late."

Naruto turned to find Sai. "Late for what?"

"The preliminaries." Sai answered. "Come on I'll explain on the way."

Naruto followed Sai out of the room to find that they were not in a hospital, but a giant building composed of man different levels. Sai motioned for him to go down the stairs with him. Naruot obeyed listening to every word Sai was saying to get a better grasp of the situation.

"Too many teams passed," Sai summed up. "So they're holding a preliminary to see who gets to enter the final part of the exams."

"I see." Naruto thought back to his battle against the six genin. "Um… just out of curiosity,"

"The Iwa team just made it in." Sai already knew what Naruto wanted to ask him. "But they don't look good. Doesn't look like they could make it even if they decide to continue. The Taki team looks a little better but I doubt it."

Sai lead them out into a clearing with rows upon rows of other genin standing. They were in what seemed to be a little tiny arena, filled with dirt and rock. Naruto looked around to see every single jounin sensei on the second tier of the arena, leaning on the railings and looking at them with interest. He saw a man with black spiky hair and a cigar in his mouth look at him intently as if mulling over something. There was a woman with black curly hair next to him. Instead of wearing the chuunin flak jacket she wore a red dress with bandages wrapped around it. He thought that her eyes resembled Kawasu's in some way but dismissed the thought. He saw Yamato wave at him with a single hand. He looked around to find Gari the iwa team's instructor looking at him as well.

"Come on Naruto." Sai gently pushed Naruto so that he stood next to Shiho.

"It's a good thing we came early." Shiho commented. "We're all fully rested."

Naruto nodded and smiled at his teammate before turning his attention to the center of the room.

The Sandaime sat on a chair made out of stone, smoking on a pipe and regarding all of them with a strange gleam in his eye. Next to him stood several ANBU members, wearing the beige cloaks and animal masks. Naruto ripped his stare off of the Hokage.

"_That's not what's important right now." _He surveyed the people who had passed.

There was a lot.

Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji stood a bit in front of him. Though they didn't seem to have a lot of wounds there were minor scratches here and there. How a weak team like them could defeat another team surprised the blonde but he tucked it into the back of his mind not to underestimate them. That's how defeat was born and arrogance lead to downfall. He surveyed the other examinees. Team 8 composed of Inuzaka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino was there too. He spied Kawasu, Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura had lost a lot of her hair because she sported a shot haircut that framed her face now. Sasuke looked like he was barely on his two feet. Kawasu looked the worst out of them all. Kawasu had a bandage over one ear and other numerous wounds all over his body. From the story that Kawasu had told him, Kawasu had most likely taken on a team by himself to get his team both the Heaven and Earth scrolls.

The one called Rock Lee was there as well. He didn't look too wounded and neither did his teammates. Naruto recognized them from the information that Shiho had given him. Hyuuga Neji the counterpart of Sasuke from the year prior. Then there was Tenten the one who was proclaimed to be the best weapon wielder among the genin.

He turned his gaze on the foreign shinobi.

The Iwa team looked like they just came in. They were still breathing heavily, their shoulders shaking. Mumaru's wounds had worsened over the last few days, blood seeping through the bandages that he wore around his body. Akatsuchi's hands were bandaged. There was dried blood crusted all over his arms no doubt from the wounds that Naruto had left for him on his hand. Kurotsuchi looked like she was the best off from her team, bandages wrapped horizontally around her face to cover her nose. Naruto had most likely broken it in their last encounter.

The Taki genin looked a bit better… though not by much.

Fu sported bandages wrapped over her eyes. Naruto thought that she was overreacting but he saw the hateful glare that her other teammates sent his way. Fu also seemed to be holding herself a bit unsteadily on her feet. Naruto looked at her feet to see if it was true. If she was truly blind and unable to see there would be a lot of bruises and cut near her ankles due to her tripping over things. Unlike what he had believed Fu did sport a lot of cuts and wounds on her wounds and on her knees from tripping over countless times in the forest. Naruto gulped feeling a guilty stab in his conscience. He looked at the other two. Shibuki looked like he was the best out of his teammates, standing on his own power. Iko held a bit bent over, clutching his stomach. Naruto had most likely given him internal bleeding.

Naruto turned his gaze to the other teams. There was Suna and Oto as well.

"I will explain the rules for the second part of the exam." The woman from before appeared with a mike headset attached to the side of her face. Naruto spotted something like pain in her eyes but it disappeared as soon as it was there. He wondered why it was there.

"You will face off against someone that's displayed on that board." She pointed towards the big screen at the top. "As for the battle rules… anything goes."

She gestured at all of them. "Before that… do any of you guys want to drop from this exam?"

Naruto looked around at the genin.

Akatsuchi immediately walked out. Naruto nodded in understanding. The boy's hands were damaged and would need medical attention if he was to continue fighting. He saw Mumaru and Kurotsuchi nod towards their teammate. It seemed as if it had already been decided.

"Mumaru," Kurotsuchi whispered. "Think over this one more time-"

"Shut up Kurotsuchi." Mumaru snapped. "I'm fine."

Kurotsuchi sneered and turned back watching what other genin were going to give up.

Surprisingly a lot.

The girl called Fu from Takigakure walked out as well lead by the shoulder by her other teammate, named Iko, if she was not mistaken. She could tell right away that Fu wasn't someone who wouldn't be able to fight while blind. If she had a bit more talent perhaps she could have put up a fight but she was no doubt suffering from the shocks of that battle with the Uzumaki. Iko walked with a limp in his gait that could only come from internal bleeding as well. So both of them were out.

She looked at Shibuki. He most likely had a concussion but he seemed to be pretending to me fine.

Sai started.

"What the-" Naruto muttered, grabbing the back of Sai's shirt and yanking him back. "What the hell are you doing?"

Sai smiled at him. "Forfeiting."

Naruto frowned. "What do you mean forfeiting? You're fine."

Sai shrugged. "This wasn't in the mission parameters."

"Screw the mission-" While Naruto was talking Sai twisted his torso, taking off his jacket and walked away, leaving the blonde with a simple black jacket in his hand.

"Shiho-" Naruot turned around.

She was walking right behind Sai.

"Hey WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto cursed throwing the jacket onto the floor gathering everybody's attention.

Sai and Shiho froze for a moment. Shiho turned around and gave Naruto an apologetic glance.

"I just wanted to know what it was like to be a regular ninja Naruto," Her eyes were hidden behind her glasses. "Now I know." Giving no chance for the blonde to retort the two walked away.

Naruto stood there speechless.

"Now if that's settled-" Anko began.

Another ninja appeared.

"Hokage-sama," he muttered, coughing a few times. "If you'd allow me, the proctor of the third exam to explain the rules…"

The Sandaime glanced at the man already knowing who it was.

He had short brown hair and dark eyes with painful looking bags underneath. Though he appeared young he seemed to have a chronic cough from some unknown disease. He wore the standard Konoha Ninja uniform, his Konoha Hiate acting as a bandanna. On his back was a katana with a rectangular hand guard.

"Hayate," The Hokage traded a look with Anko who nodded back. "Go ahead then."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Hayate turned towards the genin and coughed a few times. "First of all, I congratulate all of you on passing the second part of the exam."

Hayate began to describe the rules while Naruto glared at his teammates whom were standing next to Yamato. He missed most of the directions but got the gist of it. It was to be a series of one on one battles. Hekko Hayate told them that he would step in once the victor was clear.

"Now the first match will be between," The board flashed.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Inuzaka Kiba.

"Can the rest of the participants," Hayate coughed. "go upstairs?"

Naruto went upstairs next to Yamato, Sai and Shiho. Near them stood Kiba's team composed of the sensei named Kurenai, Hinata and Shino that seemed to be watching the battle with interest. Naruto glared at his teammates.

"Sorry Naruto," Shiho shrugged. "But I want to try again next year." She smiled at him. "Don't worry we'll be watching."

Naruto grunted and looked at Sai waiting for his reply.

Sai smiled. "I told you, it wasn't in my mission parameters."

Naruto ignored them and looked at Yamato.

"I heard about what you did." Yamato was looking down at the battle below watching Sasuke and Kiba exchange a few blows. He reached down with a hand and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"I'm counting on you Naruto to show them that Team 13 is not made of a bunch of pushovers."

Naruto smirked.

"Victor! Uchiha Sasuke!"

The battle had not taken long. With ruthless efficiency Sasuke disabled the dog with a couple of shuriken. The enraged Kiba hadn't been able to keep his cool which resulted in some stupid moves on his part. Instead of using Gatsuga to end it Kiba rushed towards the Uchiha using simple taijutsu. In his haze of rage Kiba had overlooked the fact that the Uchiha had been unable to use his famous sharingan or his fancy ninjutsu. Naruto sighed as Kiba was taken out on a stretcher. He looked behind him to find Kurenai looking on with her lips pursed.

"Guess he needs more training." Naruto jabbed but his heart wasn't really in it. Everyone was straining to look at the board which would flash the next names.

Naruto hissed in victory.

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee.

…

Sasuke passed out all the fatigue of the last few days coming back to him at once.

Kakashi leaned on the pillar next to him breathing heavily. He lowered his headband to cover the sharingan once more. He shook his head vigorously, trying to get the sweat out of his eyes and from his hair. He looked down at the fallen Uchiha and the seal that he just placed on Sasuke's neck. He grimaced knowing that the Seal do nothing if Sasuke didn't truly will it for himself to keep the cursed seal in check. It was an inevitable development though. Orochimaru was a lot older and a lot more experienced and versed in the arts of Fuinjutsu. He couldn't expect to outdo Orochimaru in this area.

Not yet anyways.

Kakashi debated whether he should carry Sasuke to the hospital or lay down and rest up a bit. He decided to do the latter and leaned more of his weight on the pillar behind him, slowly descending towards the ground.

"Impressive," A melodic voice muttered into the small room. "Having knowledge of Fuinjutsu at your age. What are you now? Early to mid twenties?"

Kakashi's body literally blurred and the hiate seemed to rise of its own accord. The copy cat ninja placed himself between the intruder and his student, his hand already gripping a kunai in reverse grip.

Orochimaru was leaning on a pillar with his shoulder, his arms crossed. He had a sardonic smirk on his face. His long black hair had been tied up into a pony tail though he couldn't hide the gaunt angular features of his face. It wasn't about being good looking or handsome anymore for Orochimaru. Orochimaru was at the level where even if he looked similar to himself, just by acting differently, being someone else and copying their mannerisms and characteristics worked more than any outer appearance did for the sannin.

"Let me tell you a bit about Fuinjutsu," Orochimaru continued as if nothing had happened. "It's the fourth kind of ninja arts. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu. Respectively they are ninja techniques which utilize the natural elements, the physical arts which manipulates one's own body then Genjutsu the art of the illusion used to manipulate a person's thoughts and perhaps even reality itself."

"Most ninjas have basic skills in all three of these aspects," Orochimaru pushed himself off of the pillar walking towards Kakashi. "But Fuinjutsu, the art of the seal," He stopped cocking his head to the side as if contemplating something. "Sometimes ninja go through their whole lives without ever touching upon this unique and useful art."

Orochimaru took another step.

"That's enough," Kakashi growled. Lightning began to flicker around his right hand. He held the forearm of his right arm with his left. It did no such thing as explode into electricity. But the room began to be filled with spontaneous popping sounds of crackling electricity. Kakashi hadn't activated his chidori yet but he had made it clear to Orochimaru that he could use it whenever he wanted to.

Orochimaru ignored him and took another step.

"Fuinjutsu allows ninja to manipulate something that cannot be done no matter how much mastery of ninjutsu they have," Orochimaru smirked. "Reality itself."

"More specifically it can control the very fabric of space time continuum." He tilted his head and smirked taking another step. "There has been no instance of ninjutsu being able to manipulate space-time as well as ninjutsu. Even the Fourth Hokage's famous teleportation technique, the Hiraishin no Jutsu that earned him the name 'Yellow Flash of Konoha' was based on the foundation of Fuinjutsu."

Orochimaru was eye to with Kakashi now, barely a breath away.

"But you know something that can manipulate reality and the space-time continuum better than fuinjutsu?" Orochimaru whispered.

Kakashi's eyes were bulging so big that they almost seemed to be escaping from their sockets. Electricity began to crackle in an increasing rate and more and more strands of lightning began to form around his right hand.

"The Sharingan." Orochimaru finished looking right into Kakashi's red orb.

Kakashi swung his arm sideways, the Chidori filling the small room with the sound of a thousand birds. Orochimaru laughed as he dodged it ducking underneath it. He opened his mouth and a snake shot out heading straight for Sasuke.

"_Shit." _Kakashi turned around and stabbed his Chidori into the ground, beheading the snake before it could touch the genin.

He felt the cold touch of steel on his neck.

Kakashi froze.

"Now now Kakashi-kun," Orochimaru's breath was warm on the back of Kakashi's neck. Even his breath seemed to contain moisture and slither around Sasuke's body. "We don't want to hurt the precious merchandise do we?"

Kakashi didn't answer choosing silence instead. The lightning around his hand flickered a for a few more seconds before dying out. The only sound that Kakashi could hear was his own breathing and the beating of his own heart.

"Don't worry Kakashi," Orochimaru continued backing up. Kakashi suppressed a shudder as Orochimaru's breath seemed to slither down his neck and to his lower back. "I'm not here to collect on him yet… he'll come to me when he's good and ready."

Orochimaru turned on his heel and began to leave, his footsteps loud and exact in the small room.

Kakashi didn't turn around, instead he kept on staring at his student.

"_Obito… Rin… Sensei…" _Kakashi looked at Sasuke. _"No… no more…" _

"NO MORE!" Kakashi yelled spinning around his eyes bloodshot with rage.

Orochimaru's face was right in front of him his face almost split in half with a wicked smile. But his eyes were anything but smiling.

They were the eyes of a predator.

Of a snake that just found a good prey to devour.

"Or perhaps I'll just take you instead." Orochimaru whispered his eyes wide, his tongue flickering in and out.

Killing Intent filled the area.

"Uh… Ah… N-N… Uuuu…" Kakashi stuttered and groaned .

Orochimaru smiled crookedly and turned around leaving the frozen Kakashi there. "You're a good ninja Kakashi. But you're still years away from reaching my level. As for the Uchiha…" He paused walking then resumed again throwing his words of farewell. "Raise him well for me."

Kakashi fell to the ground on his knees his arms limp on either side. He was staring at the ceiling though there was nothing there. He looked as if his soul had escaped him. He began to shake from the aftereffects of their little clash.

"_To think I was thinking of taking that on…" _Kakashi swallowed. _"I was a fool…" _

….

Naruto leaped down into the small arena landing on the balls of his feet. He channeled chakra into the circular seal in his left palm slowly drawing out a long katana. Its guard was a three bladed shuriken and the blade was a bit shy of three and a half feet. Some of the genin noted the obvious reduction in length but did not comment. They assumed that it was a doing on the blonde's part. Naruto twirled the sword with one hand by the middle of the scabbard watching as the ninja clad in green jumped down from his stand.

Hayate cleared his throat. "Are you both ready?"

Naruto smirked holding his sword by the middle of the scabbard, the handle pointed forward. Lee got into his own stance as well, bending his leg and putting one palm out towards the front.

Hayate looked back and forth between them. _"Nice eyes." _

Asuma leaned on the railing where Yamato and the Genjutsu Mistress were standing.

"What do you think about this match up?" Asuma asked them smirking and lightning a cigarette. He ignored the disproving glare from Kurenai.

Yamato looked down from the second floor, his arms crossed. "Naruto will win. He's different from the normal genin here."

"So is Lee." Gai appeared next to them. He was in the same posture as Yamato. "You should not underestimate the Flames of his Youth. Though from what I hear," He peered at Yamato. "Naruto's burns just as brightly."

"What's with this kid?" Kurenai asked glaring daggers at the blonde down below.

"You don't know because you're new Kurenai." Asuma said with a smile. "But… that kid down there. Rumor has it that he's something mighty special." He traded a look with Yamato. "I wonder if he's worthy of being a king we place out hopes on."

"We'll see about that." Gai muttered.

Kakashi walked in looking tired and drained. "Who're the lucky ones this time?"

"Naruto," Kurenai muttered. "And Gai's student, Lee."

Kakashi suddenly perked up at that. "That should be interesting."

"Start!" Hayate yelled.

…

Lee rushed forward immediately spinning in the air.

"Sorry Naruto-kun," Lee said while spinning. "But I can't let you win this one!" Lee spun in the air launching a single kick against the blonde.

Naruto thrust while holding his sword by the scabbard, hitting Lee's kick squarely with the handle.

Lee's eyes widened.

So did Gai's and Kakashi's.

"W-what?" Kurenai asked. "What's the big deal?"

"The Leaf Whirlwind," Asuma explained seeing as none of the other jounin were too occupied with the battle. "Is a series of low and high kicks done at the fastest possible speed one can do it in. The trick is that the opponent doesn't know that it's a low or a high kick until the last moment. It's a Taijutsu move that one has to master completely if they want it to be useful in combat."

"Lee's mastered it." Gai told them, his rich baritone carrying over even to the nearby Genin. "His technique is if anything on par with mine. The fact that Naruto blocked it means…"

"His reaction speed is just that fast." Asuma narrowed his eyes. "That's no small feat. He has to react instantly to a kick that's delivered faster than the regular eye can follow. Not to mention he blocked it with perfect timing… with the handle of his sword nonetheless."

Kurenai nodded as understanding dawned on her. "He could have just as easily countered it."

"But that wasn't Lee's fastest." Gai finished with a smirk.

…..

"Not bad Naruto-kun," Lee leaped away, somersaulting away and showing casual acrobatics. "Let's knock it up a notch."

"I couldn't agree more." Naruto replied a crazed smile beginning to appear on his face.

Lee rushed towards Naruto even faster than last time.

Lee jumped into the air and launched a sideways kick towards the blonde. Naruto ducked underneath it and reacted instantaneously, thrusting with the handle of his sword. Lee crossed his arms in midair blocking the thrust.

Naruto screamed.

The ground beneath Naruto exploded outwards sending gravel and rocks flying everywhere. The blonde literally created a crater where he stood. Initially Naruto had been low on the ground one palm on the floor and his legs bent. But as soon as his handle had been blocked by Lee's guard, Naruto's whole body exploded into movement, every single muscle moving as one in one burst of energy, thrusting so hard that his sword crushed Lee's guard and went through it, hitting Lee's chest.

Gai's eyes widened and he looked at Yamato.

"That kid…"

Gai looked down again. _"All his muscles were used at the same exact moment in conjunction with one another. From the soles of his foot to his arms… it doubled… no, almost tripled the power of his thrust. That kid… is like Lee. He's a Taijutsu specialist… That level of skill…" _

Lee flew across the air and slammed into the wall.

Naruto began to walk towards the Genin, twirling his sword by the scabbard like a baton at his side.

"I know that didn't finish you," Naruto said loudly enough for everyone, though it was aimed at Lee, to hear. "Now come out."

A green blur exploded out of the crater in the wall.

Lee threw two quick fists in succession. Naruto blocked both of them holding his sword sideways across his body. The Taijutsu Specialist flipped forward both feet leaving the ground in an overhead kick. Naruto lowered his stance once more, holding his sword sideways above his head. He grunted as the kick hit his scabbard forcing him to bend his legs to absorb the weight of the kick.

Then the second heel landed.

The second heel slipped past Naruto's sword headed towards his forehead.

Naruto lurched backwards allowing the heel to pass by his face feeling the wind scatter his hair.

When Lee's heel hit the ground it broke the surface, sending small pieces of rock flying everywhere. Naruto felt a very small one fly right by his face, leaving a shallow cut on his cheek. The blonde felt Lee's weight leave the sword that he had used to block.

Lee disappeared from view.

Naruto's eyes widened. _"What the hell…" _

The blonde immediately lowered his scabbard holding it below his face sideways. Lee's kick from below hit the scabbard with enough force to move Naruto's arm, slamming the scabbard against Naruto's forehead protector which was wrapped around his neck and then his neck.

Naruto gave a chocking cough as he felt his feet leave the ground.

"_What the hell…" _Naruto thought as time seemed to slow down. _"Even though I blocked it, it still carried enough weight to lift me into the air…" _

"_Dammit he blocked it…" _Lee leaped away wincing at the strain in his legs. _"That was my fastest when I kicked him from below. I barely lifted him off from his feet." _

Naruto skidded along the ground backwards and Lee did the same.

The blonde flicked his wrist, spinning his sword in a vertical arc. He caught it neatly by the handle.

Then he thrust three neat times into the air.

Gai's instincts screamed at him.

"LEE DODGE!"

Lee didn't think twice. As soon as he heard Gai's voice he leaped upwards using even his arms to speed up the process. As he rose into the air he heard some kind of whistling or humming sound go past his face. He felt some sharp pain on his cheek, the side of his ribs and his leg as if something fast had just grazed by him.

The audience gasped.

The wall behind Lee was riddled with three perfectly round holes.

Naruto felt a sharp pain on his forehead. The blonde touched it with the back of his hand and it came away wet with red blood. He stabbed his sword into the floor, despite the scabbard being so dull, and untied his forehead protector from around his neck. He used it as a makeshift bandage tying it around his wound.

"_That overhead kick from before," _Naruto thought to the time when Lee's second heel had slipped past his guard. _"It barely touched my forehead… if I got hit by that…" _

Lee held the side of his body with a hand noting the long gash on it as well as another one on his leg. _"If I got hit by those thrusts…" _

"_I'd be finished." _Both of them thought at the same time.

….

Gai looked down at where his pupil was battling perhaps someone who surpassed even Hyuuga Neji.

He looked at the blonde. Naruto's movements weren't just for show. Every movement had a purpose with nothing wasted. The blonde's aptitude for his sword technique was clearly far superior to any other shinobi the blonde's age. From what Gai had seen the fact that Naruto had a sword was the defense against Lee's speed. The blonde did not possess the same type of speed that Lee had but he had a lightning fast reaction speed to match it. All Naruto needed was a split second to think up of a counter. Naruto, in every sense of the word, was an equal for Lee. Both had mastered their techniques and honed their senses to the point where this level of battle was possible. He already knew even without looking at the other genin's faces that they were shocked. The two were displaying a level of battle far above that of genin, perhaps high chuunin or even low jounin.

But Gai knew that Naruto would win.

There was something that Lee did not possess.

Naruto had ranged attacks.

Gai cleared his throat.

"Lee!" He called out getting the attention of everyone else there.

"S-sensei?" Lee snapped his attention towards Gai. Gai noticed that Lee seemed to be in almost a trance.

"_He was too absorbed in the battle… this Uzumaki boy… he's strong." _Gai felt a confident smirk enter his face. _"But Lee's stronger." _

"Take them off Lee."

AN: end. I know this chapter is REALLY SHORT AND I'M REALLY SORRY AND THIS CHAPTER SUCKS I KNOW THAT TOO BUT…

I know. I'm going to update this story more before stance of shadow. I promise it's just…

I don't know. I'm not really feeling this battle. It's lacking something… substance? Soul? FIRE? FLAMES OF YOUTH? I really need like… SOMETHING. This battle between Lee and Naruto should be epic and I shouldn't just write it and not be satisfied with it. I wrote a lot more than this, about 5000 words more but I read it over and it didn't satisfy me.

It didn't shake my heart.

So I erased it.

Read it and REVIEW PLEASE! I NEED YOUR REVIEWS MORE THAN MOST! TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE BATTLE BETWEEN LEE AND NARUTo.

Sheesh, the little clash between Kakashi and ORochimaru was a hell of a lot more interesting.

Till next time –WritingAgain.


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